There’s also this:

The detective also testified that Stines tried calling his daughter on Mullins’ phone and his own phone just before the shooting. Investigators found no weapon on Mullins or in his chambers, the detective said.

In another article it said that wasn’t the only time the judge’s number had called the sherrif’s daughter

This is Lechter County, it’s where a special was filmed about Appalachian poverty back in the 60s. Like, modern stereotypes of hillbillies are literally based on these families. The Mullins’ were one of the first family’s there, this wasn’t just any judge, it was a judge from one of the families who’s ran this county for over 200 years, and not just any county, one of the poorest in the nation.

Occam’s razor and all, but I’ve had my eye on this one for a while now. Some crazy shit is liable to come out of this, there’s a lot of skeletons hidden in hollers.

And there’s a very good chance the judge and sheriff were both wildly corrupt.