Mickey Stines: The Civil Case Filings That Almost Went to Trial

Añadido: 2026-05-25

[00:00:09]You can't hide from hillbilly crime.

[00:00:14]You can't [music] hide [singing] from hillbilly crime. You may not know that there's a crew in [music] towns whispers loud and clear. [music] The sheriff shot the judge in his chair.

[00:00:28]>> Sheriff got a secret. He won't keep judge shot dead in his disbelief. A lot of [music] people have some stories to tell. Dark passed away. Get the sound of a shotgun shone down [music] to the ground.

[00:00:53][music] They can't be >> neighbors [music] hide behind their blinds. Whispis tales of troubled mind.

[00:01:01]Skeletons covering the [music] mountain side. Treacherous reality in the pile.

[00:01:06]>> Winner reveals the hidden lies.

[00:01:09]Moonlight [music] could match the cry. Shadows.

[00:01:13]There's no cover, no disguise. All the [music] secrets belong [music] in this old town from the house [music] to the ground.

[00:01:30]Rumors fly and they can't be [music] found.

[00:01:55]reveals the hidden [music] light cries.

[00:02:04]Shadows calling a lit [music] sky.

[00:02:08]There's no cover.

[00:02:14]All the secrets [music] been a long down from the [music] house to the ground.

[00:03:05]Hello everybody.

[00:03:09]Welcome, welcome to the show. Welcome to Hillbilly Crime.

[00:03:16]My name is Elizabeth and I am your host and we are going to look at we're going back to the Stein's case tonight.

[00:03:32]We are going to look at the civil case filings that almost went to trial.

[00:03:43]So, we are going to stay with the Mickey Stein case tonight.

[00:03:48]Let me grab my notes real fast and get them over. Sweet Tater.

[00:03:56]Um, you know, I kind of struggle getting on here sometimes and if it's too late by the time I finally get myself together, we just have to do it without her. But I sent her her link, so hopefully she'll be with us tonight.

[00:04:19]Um, but tonight we are not starting with the murder charge.

[00:04:30]We're going to go back into the civil lawsuit that was already that was already pulling on the same threads, right?

[00:04:45]Benfields, Sabrina Atkins, Jennifer Hill, the sheriff's department, house arrest, Judge Mullins's chambers, and the professional culture inside and around that courthouse.

[00:05:09]The new filings matter because this case was on the edge of trial. The parties, they filed witness lists, exhibit lists, a trial brief, policies, forms, messages, an audio interview transcripts.

[00:05:34]Then on March 3rd, 2026, after a brief pre-trial conference and as the jury pulled are, do you want to come on the show?

[00:05:54]>> Yeah, I just started. Come on.

[00:05:59]>> I already did.

[00:06:06]Sorry. Sweet Tater will be with us momentarily.

[00:06:13]All right. So, on March 3rd, after a brief pre-trial conference and as the jury pool came up to the courtroom, the parties announced that they had reached a settlement. I mean it was it came down to they had already brought the jury into the courthouse.

[00:06:41]So tonight we ask what was the jury about to hear?

[00:06:48]H you ever wonder about that?

[00:06:52]What was that jury about to hear?

[00:06:58]So, the case nearly went to a jury. The key facts on this, the civil case, um, Sabrina Atkins versus Benfields.

[00:07:13]Um, so December 19th of 2025, the trial filings were submitted.

[00:07:24]Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services.

[00:07:27]That was the ankle um bracelet company, the house arrest company that Benfield and Mickey Stein both worked for. They resolved its claims with Sabrina before the rest of the case. So before the sheriff's department um and Ben I guess Ben was in that last part too.

[00:07:54]Um so before the sheriff's department and um see if we can get her on there before this last settlement. There she is. Hi sweet tater. Hi. How you doing mommy?

[00:08:13]I'm doing great.

[00:08:18]>> Alan's home.

[00:08:30]>> Show.

[00:08:32]Yeah. Okay. So, we are going back into the Mickey Stein's case. Mommy, you came in right at the beginning, so you haven't missed much. just sit back and listen. So on March 3rd, the case or the court barred the parties. March 3rd, 2026, the court barred the parties from posting any kind of trial related content on social media during the jury trial.

[00:09:07]I don't think anybody knew that it was a gag order. So the judge had put a gag order on everybody on both parties. So even Sabrina was um subject to a gag order on this case.

[00:09:30]um all the parties were and that same day before trial testimony began the parties announced that settlement.

[00:09:45]Now this is important because we did not get a jury verdict.

[00:09:52]We got a settlement.

[00:09:55]But the pre-trial filings show exactly, excuse me, the pre-trial filings show exactly what each side thought mattered enough to put before a jury.

[00:10:11]Um, so the defense, let me see, which one am I going to put?

[00:10:22]um brief. Okay. So, defendants trial brief December 19th, 2025.

[00:10:32]So, the defense brief says that Ben Fields served as [music] a court security officer.

[00:10:47]Let me mute mommy there. Okay.

[00:10:51]So, Ben Fields served as a court security officer. Now, after hours, Fields worked for Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services.

[00:11:05]Uh, after hours, the home monitoring company, Sabrina Atkins, Allen, come let her out, please, was placed on home monitoring as a bond condition. The brief says that Fields admitted having a sexual relationship with Atkins, which I still am I really do not like that term. I don't like that language. I don't like that word. She did not have a relationship with him. She never says that. She never said that from the get-go.

[00:11:46]The relationship has come from of all places the investigator, the detective, the attorney general's detective.

[00:12:00]Investigator that was investigating this case.

[00:12:05]He's the one that kept using that word relationship.

[00:12:13]And Ben used it, too.

[00:12:15]>> [snorts] >> But the brief says that they would meet at night at the courthouse in Judge Mullins's chambers.

[00:12:23]Now, the defense was not saying that nothing happened. The defense position was more specific. Yes, Fields admits a spectral relationship and nighttime meetings in Judge Mullins's chambers, but the defense wanted the jury to see that as outside employment, that it was consensual and not something that made the sheriff's office automatically liable.

[00:12:53]Um, okay. Now, Mommy, do you think that his um do you think that his Benfield's employment where he had so much like he had his day job as a jailer working in the jail and then after hours um or well and then he moved from the day from the jail to the court security and then he would do the house arrest at night.

[00:13:30]And do you think that he had that there was a a failure in separation of duties there?

[00:13:40]Oh, >> been in charge of both.

[00:13:44]>> Do what? Sorry, I had you muted.

[00:13:46]>> He should not have been in charge of both. There's too much wiggle room for things to happen like that happened.

[00:13:56]Mhm.

[00:13:57]>> So he had there was he needed separation of duties.

[00:14:03]>> I really um I see that as a big problem in a lot of areas.

[00:14:12]>> It was a a conflict of interest or whatever that's called.

[00:14:18]>> It really was.

[00:14:21]Um, now that deposition, it happened 3 days before um the shooting. Do you think that the deposition had anything to do with the shooting?

[00:14:40]>> I don't know that it had anything directly to do with it, but of course it had a lot to do with it because that deposition would put anybody on edge.

[00:14:51]You know what I'm saying?

[00:14:53]>> Have to go and testify and you know what I'm saying and be on the hot seat like that because those guys were in the wrong and they knew they were in the wrong.

[00:15:06]You know, I know that they uh treated him pretty nice and didn't treat him as bad as they did the women, but uh that it had to make them nervous.

[00:15:20]So, I don't know. And of course, people were uh on to him about uh uh what he should say and shouldn't say.

[00:15:31]I'm sure people were advising him.

[00:15:34]You know what I mean? Saying now, Mickey, don't you talk about that.

[00:15:39]I think personally I think that that's where the majority of his um maybe fear and stress was coming from. I think that people were hounding him.

[00:15:57]>> I thinkounding >> trying to make sure that he didn't say too much, that he didn't tell on them.

[00:16:09]And you never know, too. People were people may have been uh just trying to figure out what all he knew. You know, some people like to play mind games.

[00:16:21]some people who are like um who are in positions of power and who have the ability to hold things over your head.

[00:16:31]And you got to think about what we're talking about here. We're talking about Judge Judge Mullins, a district court judge who there have been accusations that have been made. There have been lots of rumors. There has just been lots of chatter for a long long long long long time. And it was not allegedly just Judge Mullins.

[00:16:58]Allegedly this goes way farther out than you know than >> it was like the best little horror house in Eastern Kentucky.

[00:17:14]>> That's such a great uh comparison.

[00:17:20]It really really is.

[00:17:22]>> You know that show, don't you? [music] >> Yes. The best little wh house in Texas.

[00:17:28]>> Yeah.

[00:17:33]>> You know, and that's really kind of a um basically that's really what we're looking at here. Uh Ned Pillarsdorf, attorney Ned Pillarsdorf. He's very um [music] well known in this area for representing um I have to um as a defense attorney he um right now it's an election year so there's a whole lot of campaigning there's a whole lot of election talk there's just a whole lot stuff going on. I kind of think that this case may have been used by him as a jump off for his campaign.

[00:18:27]He just recently um jumped in and threw his name in the hat for like Congress to run against Hal Rogers. And you know, there was just a whole lot of thing, a whole lot of stuff in that civil case with Sabrina that I thought would have been um handled differently.

[00:18:50]Um so getting back to my notes, this is where the defense theory becomes really important. The defense was not simply saying that nothing happened. Their argument was more specific than that.

[00:19:09]They were trying to separate everything into different boxes. So like one box was Ben Fields as a sheriff department court security officer.

[00:19:23]Another box was Ben Fields working for the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services, the ankle monitor company. the um another box was the courthouse itself.

[00:19:40]So, if you can, you know, follow us here. And another box was the sheriff's office.

[00:19:47]The defense wanted the jury to ask, "Was Fields acting as a house house arrest employee when this happened?

[00:20:01]Was this private conduct?

[00:20:05]Did Sabrina initiate it?

[00:20:10]Did she consent?

[00:20:13]And even if Fields did something wrong, does that legally make the sheriff's office responsible?

[00:20:23]But here's the problem with that clean separation.

[00:20:28]How separate does it really feel when the alleged meetings are happening in the judges chambers in the courthouse after hours?

[00:20:43]How separate does it feel when the location is judge, you know, judge Mullins's chambers?

[00:20:53]How separate does it feel when the person involved is wearing the authority of law enforcement wearing a badge controlling that ankle monitor that determines whether someone stays out of jail.

[00:21:14]Now that's the tension. You have to remember too how bad of an environment that the Electra County Jail is.

[00:21:23]Some people will do anything to not go back if given the choice.

[00:21:31]The defense wanted separation.

[00:21:36]The plaintiff wanted the jury to see a whole environment.

[00:21:44]And the plaintiff's witness list makes that clear. They were not trying to tell a narrow story about Benfields only.

[00:21:56]They were prepared to call Mickey Stein.

[00:22:00][snorts] They was prepared to get Mickey Stein on the stand and testify.

[00:22:11]What would he have said? I don't recall.

[00:22:17]They expected testimony about the sheriff's office training supervision, sexual harassment policy, ethics policy, secondary employment policy, and what Stein allegedly knew about sexual activity involving family and or female, sorry, female inmates.

[00:22:46]So now I want to be careful. A witness list is not a jury verdict. These are allegations and expected testimony descriptions.

[00:23:00]Um sorry about that. Okay. Um, these are allegations and expected testimony descriptions, but [snorts] it tells us what the plaintiff believed that they could put in front of a jury. And look who else they listed.

[00:23:33]They listed Danielson.

[00:23:37]They also listed Stacy Yates.

[00:23:42]They listed Chris Triplet, who was Jennifer Hills. Let's go through there real quick. Let's stop and take a second before we go through all these people, too. Let's go over to the chat. We'll unmute mommy there for a second. I think she quit picking on her banjo.

[00:24:00][laughter] It's okay for you to do it. I just can't be talking when you do because it distracts me. makes me go where I'm not supposed to go. Okay. Hello everybody.

[00:24:15]Welcome in. Welcome in. Thank you guys for being here. Please hit that like button. Uh we sure appreciate it. It gets us out to a larger group of people.

[00:24:30]Phillip says, "Hi Sapper, you old stranger." Hello honey. Welcome back.

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[00:24:40]We love all of our people. Sharky Chirona, hello. Hillbellies, hello. Uh, Mountain Dew Queen, UNC Hills.

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[00:25:01]UNC.

[00:25:06]Oh, and Crystal and Marne, our uh mods.

[00:25:14]Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know you know 668.

[00:25:21]Hello, honey.

[00:25:23]Welcome. So glad to see you all tonight.

[00:25:27]All right. All right. All right. Now, let me grab a photo real fast. We know who we're talking about, but um Mickey Stein, you know, people just aren't who we who we think they are.

[00:25:54]This is a thumbnail I put together, but you know, Mickey Stein is also using this uh defense in his defense, I guess, with I don't know if it's going to be connected to the mental health if they're going to have an expert testify about this uh encphilitis that he apparently has that he contracted through a mosquito.

[00:26:24]They say allegedly.

[00:26:28]I don't know. What do you think about that part of it, Mommy?

[00:26:32]>> Well, they'll probably try to use anything they can >> that will show that he was unstable mentally because in fact, he was unstable.

[00:26:46]>> I don't know what I think his sentence ought to be. You know, I haven't made up my mind on that, but he was >> he was that uh crazy.

[00:27:01]>> Marne says, "I think the deposition definitely had something to do with it."

[00:27:06]I think it did, too. I I think that it was uh Miss Pam, hello. I think it had a lot to do with his stress, for sure. I think that he was also being threatened.

[00:27:21]Um, but you know, could he have been directly threatened or could he have just um perceived the threats?

[00:27:36]>> I think he was dread I think he was directly affect uh um >> threatened.

[00:27:42]>> Yes. I I don't know that it was like I'm gonna do this and this and this to you.

[00:27:48]It's more of innuendos. You know what I'm saying?

[00:27:52]>> Yeah.

[00:27:53]>> Like a side out talking out of the side of your mouth or something kinds of threats.

[00:28:00]>> Yeah. Maybe uh showing their gun. Um >> they wanted him scared the whole >> And how do they do that? I've seen uh people intimidate others by maybe showing their weapon, displaying it, you know, pulling their shirt up. Um I mean, these are just little physical ways, but then you've got um verbal verb verbal intimidation, verbal, >> like mine's bigger than yours. You know, my gun's bigger than your gun. My gun can make a bigger hole than your gun.

[00:28:39]and all sorts of stuff like that cuz they were gun people, you know.

[00:28:45]>> Well, yeah. He was very very well um trained and he went hunting, you know.

[00:28:53]Um shooting a gun wasn't nothing to Mickey. It was like second nature to him. And something else that that caught my attention when we watched that video, you don't ever see any kind of recoil from the shot. You know, every time I shoot a gun, there's a kick back in the face.

[00:29:20]>> There's a kick. Yeah.

[00:29:23]When you watch that video of the shooting, you don't see any kind of of kickback. Or at least I did.

[00:29:35]>> We don't know how much he practiced.

[00:29:38]Look to me like he was a good shooter.

[00:29:41]>> Well, I don't know if practicing necessarily would stop that recoil or if it would >> you'd be ready for it. It's what I was saying. it it's strength and you're ready for it.

[00:29:55]>> Mar that DNA >> have your hands on it good and have it, you know, you'd be in control of that gun.

[00:30:07]>> Now, me, the thing would probably fly out of my face and flip around and shoot me.

[00:30:16]I have no experience with guns whatsoever. Well, I've shot them, you know. Of course, that's an old country girl raised on a farm.

[00:30:26]>> Yeah, I'm the same way. I've shot them and I'm a really good shot, but it's not something that I do regularly. It's not something that I have a great amount of knowledge in is weapons. I don't >> Well, I have never I have never owned a gun.

[00:30:49]Well, I took the training. I took the concealed carry class at Eastern Kentucky University. I took it then, uh, when I was in school.

[00:31:02]Um, so I took that. Um, and it was really, really informative. I'm very glad that I took it. It teaches you a whole lot about gun safety. Um, and uh, it also is very informative on, you know, what happens if you have to shoot somebody in self-defense.

[00:31:30]Even if it's self-defense, you better not think that you're going home because 99% of the time, even if you shoot somebody in self-defense, they're you're going to jail and you're going to go to jail until you know they set you and you're going to probably end up having to go to trial for it. I mean, circumstances would determine.

[00:31:54]>> At least that's how it works in Huh.

[00:32:00]these movies I watch that are foreign movies that that's what they do in all those countries.

[00:32:07]>> I watch a lot of uh who done it that are from different countries like England and you know just different countries in general.

[00:32:17]>> Yeah.

[00:32:19]Well, what do you guys think? Let's move right on along.

[00:32:27]Uh, Miss Pam says when he was cornered, he felt threatened for sure, so they used his family perhaps to make sure he paid attention.

[00:32:39]Well, you know, I was also wondering, just throwing out, you know, just speculating some throwing [clears throat] out theories.

[00:32:51]Um, I also wondered about this, it seemed like this obsession to talk to his daughter.

[00:33:02]Do we necessarily even know where that came from? You know, like what was the basis for that? Was that was he he was apparently trying to reach her earlier that day. So whatever panic he was in, I think had started earlier that day.

[00:33:25]Why else was he trying to reach out to his daughter? Why else was he c was he going to the high school before this ever happened to see his daughter? Why was he trying to I think that's something that we missed before. We never really connected that part of it.

[00:33:46]We never connected um the earlier contact with the daughter that day. What was that for?

[00:33:59]Now, we've had different um reports.

[00:34:02]We've heard that um that they or at first we heard that they they hadn't seen each other, but I think through that grand jury transcript, that leaked uh grand jury transcript, we found out that he did talk to her that day at the school if I remember that correctly. I'm not exactly sure, but I know that he was trying to talk to her that day. Mr. William Collins, 85 watching and only 27 likes. Go hit that like button for us, you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Pento, if Mickey was faking, he sure put on a good act. Just saying. Oh, yeah. I I think he was definitely in some form of mental crisis.

[00:34:54]>> I do.

[00:34:55]>> I think he was in some sort of trouble, too.

[00:34:58]>> I think he was, too. I also wonder if he wasn't trying to um uh what is worse than murder?

[00:35:10]What could be worse than murder?

[00:35:15]If there was something that the judge knew on Mickey Stein that Mickey was in fear that the judge could tell on him. I mean, it's just a it's just a theory, but we don't know.

[00:35:30]We have absolutely no idea. And I guarantee you that the truth is worse than we ever than we ever dreamed. So, they're trying they are charging um the the former employee of the jail, they've charged him with organized crime here recently. You know, I've been hollering about organized crime for the last couple of years and this boy that they end up catching who was working at the jail and who was dating one of the defense attorneys [snorts] and from what I understand and we know who the defense at we know who it is mom and it's just very very disappointing.

[00:36:18]Um, now I don't think that the little girl knew anything that this guy was allegedly doing, but then again, I don't know.

[00:36:32]I don't know.

[00:36:35]Even after he got arrested, well, see, there you go. That I'm doing exactly what I preach not to do.

[00:36:44]We don't know what kind of evidence these uh people have brought up against this boy either. Have you seen any evidence of organized crime against this young man? Because I haven't seen anything yet. And I know what bunch have brought these cases. I know what bunch are building cases. Now, if we look at the kind of comp uh of case building, competence, knowledge, skill, you name it, out of London, Kentucky. Now, London is a lot bigger place than here. And it would have a lot more eyeballs and oversight on it than we would here.

[00:37:29]And we see the level of competence and negligent incompetence I should say negligence you name it coming out of London do you think that same type of skill level misconduct level I'd say it's probably higher here you just don't have anybody body in leadership positions that are willing to do anything about it.

[00:38:06]Um, but getting back looking back at or getting back to looking at the um list, Daniel Dodson was on that list, witness list.

[00:38:23]Stacy Yates. He worked or or he was in the drug court program under Judge Jimmy Craft in Whitesburg.

[00:38:38]Sabrina Atkins was in the drug court program.

[00:38:44]this uh house arrest system was being used for drug court purposes also not just for a defendant but Daniel Dudson, Stacy Yates, Chris Triplet who was Jennifer Hill's boyfriend, Patty Stockam, Miss Patty the ankle monitor owner company owner All right. Briana Cornet was on that list. Briana Cornet was girl number three.

[00:39:23]Now, her name has been kind of in the weeds a lot because she was not really a a plaintiff in that civil lawsuit with Sabrina and Jennifer Hill. Now, I don't know why she wasn't.

[00:39:41]Well, it's because her charges were old, I thought.

[00:39:45]>> Well, is that why? Because they were too old. I don't But see, it wasn't about her charges. It was about Ben kissing her.

[00:39:56]>> Ben Fields and all of that. I don't know if why Briana wasn't in there. I don't know. May I don't think it would necess Well, >> I thought the statute of limitations had run out.

[00:40:13]>> Well, maybe >> on the incident >> maybe.

[00:40:17]>> So, who's this man in this picture?

[00:40:20]>> That's Mickey getting swarmed by mosquitoes.

[00:40:25]>> Oh, that's a mosquito. I wondered what that bug was on his forehead.

[00:40:35]Yeah. Well, >> I thought it was like a yellow jacket or something.

[00:40:44]>> It's a mighty healthy mosquito.

[00:40:48]So, anyway, getting back to our list.

[00:40:51]So, we've got um Briana and Chad Brown.

[00:40:58]Chad Brown was also on that witness list.

[00:41:03]That's huge. Chad Brown is the one that had that allegedly had the videos and pictures of Judge Mullins.

[00:41:12]That's huge.

[00:41:14]Chad Brown was on that witness list.

[00:41:18]They were going to call him to the stand to testify about the videos >> that seen that.

[00:41:29]>> Me too.

[00:41:31]So that is not a small witness list for you know for a simple one bad employee case right that is a map of the courthouse environment and the exhibit list tells the same story. The plaintiff wanted the jury to see the text messages between Sabrina and Ben. They wanted the jury to see Field's law enforcement code of ethics, uh, his deputy sheriff's oath, the criminal complaint that was accusing Sabrina of escape signed by Fields in his official capacity.

[00:42:21]And this seems to be a big pattern. Once they get tired of them, once they become trouble, once they no longer have use for them, they just swear out an escape warrant and send them to jail. Now, you know what that does to their record? Not only does it falsely imprison them, but it also adds it to their record so they can't get bonded later on, right? Because if you have an escape charge, there ain't no judge in America going to give you a bond after that.

[00:42:59][clears throat] Not if you've got an escape charge on your record. Ain't they ain't?

[00:43:05]I mean, they were playing with these girls' records like it was nothing. They were playing with these women's lives like they were nothing.

[00:43:20]And to still listen to them today, you still even have Daniel Dodson calling them crackheads. I mean, they don't care about them. They are beneath them.

[00:43:36]Women in general, I think, are just beneath them.

[00:43:43]I think we are either good enough to lay or we are can go to jail. I mean what's it matter?

[00:43:56]Now these were um what Sabrina's side had put in for their exhibit.

[00:44:08]Just look and let me say them again. Um they want she wanted to see the deputy both the code of ethics the criminal complaint >> and um >> the criminal complaint of escape the one that he had to sign his name on in his official capacity.

[00:44:38]Well that's perjury. That's the perjury charge that he ended up serving his six months in jail for.

[00:44:46]Yeah, buddy. The attorney general investigative report was a joke.

[00:44:53]The suspension memo, but it was going to be in trial. the suspension memo where they suspended Ben, the termination letter, the indictment itself, then the guilty plea. So, they had Ben's guilty plea ready.

[00:45:14]The sheriff's department's policies that none of them knew even existed, let alone followed the Facebook messages between sheriff's office personnel.

[00:45:28]So that little Facebook group that all of the sheriff's deputies had that together that's one of the most unprofessional, immature, juvenile, disgusting, sexist, I could go on.

[00:45:49]And every single one of those people who participated in that still work down there at the sheriff's department or they work in some other capac uh some other department in law enforcement capacity. Not one of them was uh reprimanded.

[00:46:08]Not one of them got any kind of uh discipline whatsoever.

[00:46:15]None. It sounded like they was all working in a coal mine together.

[00:46:21]>> Yeah.

[00:46:21]>> And the only thing they had to do all day long for entertainment was to was to play with these girls.

[00:46:30]>> Yeah. And they make these comments about these girls. You know what I'm saying?

[00:46:35]>> Oh yeah. It's a sex trafficking. I've said it from the get-go. That's what this is. We have task forces. Our attorney general's office has a smeck trafficking task force, but because we're looking at a bunch of uh law dogs and people, elected officials, appointed officials. There ain't nobody that wants to even touch this because if they start pulling on one thread, where's it gonna?

[00:47:11]It's just going to all come out. Well, they don't want they don't want it coming out, you know, they don't want to be affected by it. They want to make it go away.

[00:47:20]>> Well, and because then they're going to have to answer to why they allowed it to continue for so long. But it's a catch 22. It it so they just ignore it all together. Just >> and hope it goes away. And sometimes that's the best thing to do is to ignore something and it just fixes itself.

[00:47:43]Well, >> but not that kind of stuff.

[00:47:45]>> Not that kind of stuff.

[00:47:48][laughter] Preacher man has been awful quiet. He sure has. We have not heard nothing hardly. Well, I mean, he gets up and preaches every Sunday, y'all. Um, he's got a big old church following, I guess.

[00:48:08]>> Where's it at? Church. Well, he the last I knew he was the big preacher at the the black church up in Cumberland. Now, now I don't know if he's still there or not, but you know, a pride terrace.

[00:48:26]>> I know where you mean.

[00:48:28]>> Yeah, they gave him um they gave him the pastor to that church after everything that came out about him. But I, you know, people say, "Oh, we all have a past." Yeah, we do. We We sure do.

[00:48:49]>> They have some great great black preachers over in Cumberland.

[00:48:57]>> Oh, I'm sure.

[00:48:58]>> Oh, they do. I know some of those guys.

[00:49:01]They are terrific.

[00:49:03]>> Well, I'm not a Preacher Man fan.

[00:49:09]that preacher man fan.

[00:49:13]Um, all right.

[00:49:14]>> I've got my song ready whenever you're ready.

[00:49:18]>> Are you going to sing a song?

[00:49:20]>> I am. That's why I was practicing my banjo.

[00:49:23]>> Well, you go right ahead, Mommy. You go right ahead.

[00:49:27]>> I thought I'd sing Little Birdie for you tonight and play the banjo.

[00:49:33]You know, I like these songs. So, I've been sitting here singing for quite a while. About maybe a half an hour or an hour [music] before.

[00:49:45]There it is.

[00:49:52][music] Little [singing] birdie, [music] little birdie, [singing] come and sing me [music] your song.

[00:50:06][singing] What a short [music] time to stay here and a long [music] time [singing] to be gone.

[00:50:24]rather be in [music] some dark [singing] where the sun don't ever shine for you [singing] to be the man's darling and to know that you'll never be mine.

[00:50:45][music] Little bird, little bird, [singing] [music] come sing to me your song.

[00:50:57]Got [singing and music] a short time to stay in and [music] a long time to be gone.

[00:51:08]Little birdie, little birdie.

[00:51:14]What makes [singing] you fly so high?

[00:51:18]And you know that my lover isn't [singing] waiting in the sky.

[00:51:29]I'm [singing] a long way from a big city in my old Kentucky home. [music] Got no father or mother, no place [singing] to call.

[00:51:53]Little [singing] Mery, Little Mery, what makes your head so red.

[00:52:03][music] I've been through.

[00:52:08][music] It's no wonder I ain't dead.

[00:52:16]Married woman.

[00:52:22]Why don't you settle down?

[00:52:27]Your heart's like the little birdies.

[00:52:33]Your fire all around.

[00:52:38]Little [music] birdie, little birdie, come and [singing] sing to me your song.

[00:52:50][music] Got a short Time to say a long time to be gone.

[00:53:01]>> There you go, mommy. [laughter] Who's that over there?

[00:53:08]Is that Alan?

[00:53:10]>> No, that's Bryson.

[00:53:12]>> He come to listen to me sing.

[00:53:16]>> He came in. Yeah.

[00:53:20]Well, that was good, Mom.

[00:53:23]There you go. I loved it. Little birdie.

[00:53:27]I don't know that song. I don't know those songs, so I can't sing.

[00:53:30]>> Those are old songs that old people sang when they didn't have television and stuff like that, you know. They instead of all this stuff we do for entertainment today, they sang.

[00:53:46]>> I know. And they used any kind of thing that they could use that would make music like spoons.

[00:53:54]>> And they use wash tubs.

[00:53:56]>> Worsh tubs. Yeah. Anything.

[00:54:00]>> Those are percussion instruments. They don't make notes. They just percuss.

[00:54:06]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:07]>> They're for keeping the beat.

[00:54:10][laughter] >> Well, all right. All right. Well, do you have anything else you want to say about it?

[00:54:19]>> What?

[00:54:22]>> No, not really. It's just an old song.

[00:54:25]It's of unknown origin.

[00:54:30]And the verses are, you know, they're in other songs, too.

[00:54:38]So, it's just one of those things.

[00:54:41]>> It's good. It's good.

[00:54:44]Uh, let's see.

[00:54:48]Hello, Boomer 1964.

[00:54:51]Sweet Tater will be singing lots for us more. So, don't you worry.

[00:54:58]Um, Boomer says, "Unless every single person of power in Lechre County gets replaced, the truth will never come out." Right now, they're still trying to find a way to put this to sleep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

[00:55:15]Yep. I agree.

[00:55:16]>> Yeah. It's a big old stain on the area.

[00:55:19]>> Yep. It is. So, >> again, the plaintiff's story was not just Ben Fields had a relationship with Sabrina. The plaintiff's story was look at the oath, look at the badge, look at the policies, look at the courthouse, look at the ankle monitor, look at the money, look at the culture. And this is where the policy language matters. The sheriff's department sexual misconduct policy defines sexual misconduct as any sexual activity while on duty or stemming from official duty stemming from official duties. Well, that's just about every one of them down there. if they charged one of them with it, they'd have to charge them all.

[00:56:18]Now, that phrase is huge, stemming from official duty. So, that means, you know, you can't be you can't work there 20 years and be on your fifth wife that you picked up from the jail.

[00:56:35]Was he clocked in at that ex? Let's move back. So stemming from that official duty because the question is not just was he clocked in at that exact second that he was having smacks with her up there in the judge's chambers. Well, he had the judge's key. He had a key to that courthouse. He probably was not necessarily uh on duty, >> but >> because he was there to take people back and forth from the jail, wasn't he? Or there to protect the judge or something.

[00:57:12]>> Well, that's court security, but he was working as this ankle monitor, the house arrest. And so, according to him, he was on duty 24/7.

[00:57:22]Well, but he wasn't on he wasn't when he was doing that ankle monitor mon monitoring stuff. He wasn't working for the county then. He was working for that other thing.

[00:57:33]>> Right. But you can't be working 247.

[00:57:39]>> No, he wasn't working no 247. But he was on call according to him and worked 247 because if somebody was away from their ankle u you know if they were out of range or if somebody had to call him or if he had to go somewhere. Remember, this man was going out to these women's houses and arresting them, taking them back to the jail where he had absolutely no authority, no jurisdiction. He didn't have arrest powers outside of the courthouse. Now, in the courthouse, he had absolute arrest powers, but outside of the courthouse, he had none.

[00:58:27]So, what new thing has happened that we're talking about this again?

[00:58:33]>> We're talking about what the jury would have heard.

[00:58:39]>> Oh, they didn't hear, but they what they would have heard.

[00:58:43]>> She settled. Right as the jury was taking their seat to hear this trial, she settled. And because that happened, see, they had the opportunity to settle before they picked the jury, before they brought the jury, you know, went through all that jury um process of picking the jury and all of that. And they w she wouldn't do it. And they told her and um that if they went through with this and got done with it and then she decided to settle after they picked the jury, then they would be responsible, the defense, her her or well, not defense, but her her side would be responsible for paying whatever the jury costs were or whatever it was. And so it was like I forget how much it was like $1,000 or $3,000 or something like that.

[00:59:46]And so she ended up having to pay that because she did exactly what you know they had um tried not to happen. Um so back to saying the question becomes did this relationship stem from official authority? Did it stem from the ankle monitor? Did it stem from her court case? Did it stem from his access to the courthouse?

[01:00:16]Did it stem from his role as the person who could report violations?

[01:00:24]That is why this is bigger than a private relationship.

[01:00:28]And then there's the secondary employment issue. The policy says that outside employment should not conflict with official duties.

[01:00:40]It talks about permission, approval, information about the work, and annual reapproval.

[01:00:50]But the deposition testimony we already looked at shows something much much looser. Mickey testified that when he worked at EKCS for the ankle monitor company while he was a deputy, permission was verbal. Fields testified that he did not know about filing um about filling out a permission form. He knew nothing about it even though it's in the policy. and Fields testified that he used sheriff's department uh items connected to that work like his vehicle, his uniform, his badge, his gun. So, the paperwork says there should be structure.

[01:01:39]The testimony suggests the real world practice was much much more informal.

[01:01:48]Now, let's talk about the house arrest form because this is one of the most important documents. This form controlled Sabrina's daily life. Um, it says that she had to remain at her primary residence unless she had court permission or a medical emergency.

[01:02:10]It says that she had to wear the ankle transmitter at all times. It said tampering could result in a felony escape charge. Says she was financially responsible for the equipment. And then the money $65 hookup fee.

[01:02:27]$65 hookup fee was when Sabrina was on.

[01:02:31]Now it's a lot more than $65 and $85 weekly.

[01:02:37]Paid in advance. That's what Ben was charging. All payments must be made in cash. That matters. Cash payments, weekly fees, a defendant under court control, a monitor tied to freedom.

[01:02:56]Sounds to me like they were um chained like a fighting chicken. Put a chain around its ankle and let it walk around in circles.

[01:03:08]a person who could be sent back to jail.

[01:03:13]That is not a normal customer relationship. That's not a normal client drug court relationship.

[01:03:24]It's not a normal drug court procedure.

[01:03:29]That is not equal footing.

[01:03:32]So when people say, "Well, was it consensual?"

[01:03:36]The real question is what does consent mean when one person controls the monitor, the violation report, the fee, and your freedom? And then we have the Patty Stalkum notice. That notice says that Lecher County house arrest does not have anything to do with the Lecher County Sheriff's Department. It said to contact Patty at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Services. Now, that is the defense friendly version of the story on paper, separate, but in real life, what did people see? They saw Ben Fields as a deputy. They saw him in uniform.

[01:04:24]They saw him at the courthouse.

[01:04:26]They saw him in Judge Mullins's chambers, just like all them other higherups.

[01:04:33]They saw him connected to the court process.

[01:04:37]They saw him dealing with ankle monitors and payments. So the paper says separate.

[01:04:43]The lived experience may have felt anything but separate.

[01:04:49]Now the audio interview transcript with Matt Easter is something.

[01:04:56]It's very something.

[01:04:59]But here's what it adds. Sabrina describes Meeting Fields when she got out of jail. She says that he put the bracelet on. She says that he could not afford or that she could not afford the bracelet and had filed motions about rehab and payment. She says that Fields took the bracelet off and put it back on before court. She says the meetings were always at the courthouse in Judge Mullins's chambers. She also makes broader allegations about videos and other people, other higherups.

[01:05:37]Those are allegations. They were not proven by a jury in this civil case because the civil or the case settled.

[01:05:48]That's really that sucks. really really sucks that she settled because a lot of those answers now will never never be known.

[01:06:01]Was it worth $300,000?

[01:06:07]Was it?

[01:06:10]I might would have wanted the answers more, but that's >> because she may have needed money really really bad.

[01:06:19]>> I know. I know. And that's kind of what they depend on when they offer big settlements.

[01:06:27]But that money will be gone before you know it if it ain't already gone.

[01:06:32]And um you know, here we are.

[01:06:40]But, you know, they show why investigators and civil lawyers were looking beyond just Ben Fields. They were looking at the courthouse. They were looking to looking at access. Well, maybe they were looking at the chambers. They were looking at whether vulnerable women under court control were protected or exploited. And that brings us back to Mickey Stines. Mickey sat for his deposition in this civil case uh three days before Judge Mullins was shot and killed. There's still no official motive, but this civil case is the backdrop. So this is the paperwork. This is the environment. This is the pressure sitting around that courthouse before the shooting. And that is why we keep coming back to it. Not because it answers every question, but because it shows us the world where the question lives.

[01:07:48]All right, guys. That will do it for tonight. I hope you have had a good evening. Sorry we were a little late again, but we're always here if we can be. You all, do you got anything you want to say, Mommy? No. No. All right. It's um Somebody's talking about ticks. Yeah, man. Ticks are bad this year. Really, really, really bad this year. Every year, you know, something's bad. So, it could be ants or ticks or fleas or something. mosquitoes.

[01:08:27]The size of that one on Mickey's head.

[01:08:30][laughter] That was a big skater. [laughter] Oh, I know. You never know. You never know. All right, guys. Well, thank you, Jesus, for another day being able to come together in your name, Lord. I praise you, Jesus. I pray, Lord, that you'll forgive me for my sins.

[01:08:51]whatever's inside of me that ain't of you. I pray that you take it out. I pray that you touch me, Lord. There's a healing that's needed. I need a healing.

[01:09:03]I pray that you calm my spirit, Lord.

[01:09:08]Calm my spirit. Whatever's inside of me that just that is menopausal, Lord, I pray that you'll take it out.

[01:09:17]Touch me, Lord. Heal me. I lift up all my other hillbillies up to you, Lord.

[01:09:21]Everybody under the sound of my voice, whatever need they have, Lord, I pray that you just move. I pray that the Holy Ghost will guide us and lead us and draw us. I pray for the lost today, Lord. Those that don't know you, I pray that the Holy Spirit will draw them to you. And if it takes bringing them to their knees, Lord, that's what I pray happens.

[01:09:48]Sometimes that's what it takes. But I'd rather take I'd rather find you on my knees than not. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. I pray that you go with us tonight, Lord, and bring us back tomorrow safely at the appointed time.

[01:10:04]And until then, I give you all praise, honor, and glory in Jesus' name. In Jesus name.

[01:10:12]All right, y'all.

[01:10:15]Don't let the bed bugs bite tonight.

[01:10:19]Sleep tight.

[01:10:21]I love you, mommy.

[01:10:23]>> Love you. Did you find out about that medicine?

[01:10:27]>> Not yet. She answered me yet, but she will.

[01:10:31]All right, we'll see you.

[01:10:33]>> Did you get Did you response?

[01:10:36]>> She didn't answer me yet, but she will and I'll let you know.

[01:10:42]>> Oh, okay.

[01:10:44]>> Okay. Bye.

[01:10:45]>> Okay.

[01:10:47]>> All right.

[01:11:02][music] [singing] >> Billy crime.

[01:11:06]>> You may [music] not know that there's a crew in town. The headbies are making their rounds. Small town whispers loud and clear. The sheriff shot the judge in his chamer's chair. [music] >> Sheriff's got a secret he won't keep.

[01:11:19]Judge shot dead in his disbelief. A lot of people have some [music] stories to tell. Dark passed away. Get the sound of a shotgun shell. All the secrets [music] down loud in this old [singing] town from the [music] house to the ground and they [music] can't be found.

[01:11:45]Neighbors hide behind their blinds.

[01:11:48]Whisper tales of troubled minds covering [music] the mountain side. The treacherous reality in the pine reveals the hidden lies. Moonlight couldn't match the [music] crash. Shadows in sun.

[01:12:02]There's no cover [music] down [music] to the [music and singing] ground.

[01:12:19]Rumors fly and they can't be found.

[01:12:43]>> [music] >> reveals the dim shadows calling [music] sun.

[01:12:56]There's no cover.

[01:13:02]All the [music] secrets been along down loud in this old town from the courthouse to [music] the ground.

[01:13:16]from the spy and they can't be found.

[01:13:24][music] [music]