"I wasn't present," Clayton Stamper, lead investigator, said. "But when he was taken into custody, I was told by one of the other officers that were there that he made the comment, 'They're trying to kidnap my wife and kid.

The sheriff who is charged with the murder of a district court judge in Eastern Kentucky has now retired.Sheriff Mickey Stines pleaded not guilty last week.Stin

Video shown at the preliminary hearing for the former Letcher County sheriff accused of killing a district judge allegedly showed the deadly shooting.

Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines has been arrested in connection to a shooting at the Letcher County Courthouse on Thursday.

Stines was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on the suspicion of having gunned down District Judge Kevin Mullins in his chambers. The shooting came after an argument between the two prominent figures, according to a statement from Kentucky State Police.

A Kentucky lawman stepped down Monday as sheriff of the county where he's accused of walking into a judge's chambers and killing him in a shooting that stunned

The letter, from The Law Office of Jeremy A. Bartley, said that Stines made the "difficult decision to effect his retirement" on Monday ahead of the ongoing legal process.

According to the retirement letter submitted to the governor by Stines’s attorney, he says Stines served the people of Letcher County for 22 years.

A detective testified the fatal shooting of Kentucky Judge Kevin Mullins by Sheriff Mickey Stines followed calls to the sheriff's daughter.

The Kentucky sheriff accused of fatally shooting a judge in his chambers is retiring, according to a letter from the murder suspect's attorney.