The Mickey Stines murder case is frozen — and the reason is a video nobody knew existed until now. Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins True Crime Today to break down the recusal motion that could change everything.

Former Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines is charged with murdering District Judge Kevin Mullins in his courthouse chambers in September 2024. The shooting was captured on video. The defense isn't disputing Stines pulled the trigger — they're arguing he was legally insane. But now, before any of that gets argued in front of a jury, the defense is fighting to remove the judge.

According to court filings, Special Judge Christopher Cohron was filmed seated inches from Mullins at a Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health meeting — seven days before Mullins was killed. The defense claims Cohron never disclosed this. They're now arguing that his rulings — blocking the psychiatric evaluation from being unsealed, barring it from the bond hearing — show an appearance of bias that cannot stand in a case where mental health is the entire defense.

Eric Faddis has been on both sides of fights like this. He walks us through the legal standard for recusal, what happens if Cohron denies the motion, and how this could escalate to Kentucky's Chief Justice. We also get into the venue battle, the death penalty decision that still hasn't been made, and what fifteen months of procedural gridlock tells us about how the system handles a case this tangled.

#MickeyStines #TrueCrimeToday #EricFaddis #JudgeCohron #KevinMullins #RecusalMotion #KentuckyMurder #TrueCrimeNews #CourthouseShooting #CriminalJustice

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Today we're breaking down everything you need to know about what comes next in the Nick Reiner case.

Alan Jackson quit as Nick's attorney this morning — but not before delivering a statement that sounded more like a closing argument than a goodbye: "Nick Reiner is NOT guilty of murder under California law. Print that." Three weeks of investigation. Ten sealed subpoenas. And now he's gone.

Here's what that statement actually means. California's insanity defense works in two phases. First, the jury decides guilt based on the evidence. Then — if guilty — a second trial determines whether the defendant was legally insane at the time of the crime. That's where Jackson's words apply. Under the M'Naghten Rule, the defense must prove Nick couldn't understand what he was doing or couldn't tell right from wrong at the exact moment of the killings. Less than one percent of defendants plead insanity. Only about a quarter succeed.

Nick is now represented by Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, who met him for approximately thirty seconds before the hearing. But the LA County Public Defender's Office has one of the best capital case records in the country — between 2006 and 2015, only one of their clients was sentenced to death out of thirty appeals.

Here's what most people miss: even if the insanity defense works, Nick doesn't walk free. He goes to a state psychiatric hospital — potentially for life. Facilities where the DOJ found civil rights violations and patient murders.

The insanity defense isn't an escape hatch. It's a different kind of cage. And whether Nick goes to prison or Patton State Hospital, he's not coming back.

#NickReiner #RobReiner #TrueCrimeToday #InsanityDefense #CaliforniaLaw #MurderCase #AlanJackson #PublicDefender #CriminalJustice #ReinerCase

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Today we're breaking down the defense strategy everyone's talking about — and why it almost never works.

Alan Jackson made his intentions clear before walking away from Nick Reiner's case: "Nick Reiner is NOT guilty of murder under California law." Translation: insanity defense.

Nick was reportedly being treated for schizophrenia at the time he allegedly killed his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. TMZ reports a schizoaffective disorder diagnosis. His medication was changed weeks before the killings, and sources describe his behavior as "erratic and dangerous."

But California doesn't care if you're mentally ill. It cares if you were legally insane at the exact moment of the crime. That's the M'Naghten Rule — and it's brutal. The defense must prove Nick either didn't understand what he was doing or couldn't tell right from wrong in that specific instant.

Less than one percent of defendants try this defense. Only about a quarter succeed.

Attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins us to explain how California's insanity defense actually works — the two-phase trial process, how medication changes factor in, and what evidence prosecutors will use to argue Nick knew exactly what he was doing.

We also examine the addiction angle. Nick has a documented history of cocaine and stimulant abuse. California recognizes "settled insanity" from long-term drug use — but psychosis from voluntary intoxication at the time of the crime doesn't qualify. How do these two factors interact?

If the defense wins, Nick goes to a state psychiatric facility. If it loses, he faces life in prison or worse.

Here's what you need to know about the hardest defense in criminal law.

#NickReiner #RobReiner #InsanityDefense #TrueCrimeToday #CaliforniaLaw #Schizophrenia #MurderCase #MNaghtenRule #LegalExplainer #MentalHealth

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