JACKSON, Ky. — A Breathitt County mother who was charged with manslaughter after she faked her 10-year-old son’s disappearance has now seen that charge upgraded to murder.

And the child’s step-father has also been charged in the case.

Felicia Gross, 33, of Jackson, has been indicted on charges of murder, filing a false report, and two counts of witness tampering. Joshua Gross, 41, has been charged with complicity to those same charges. Both are additionally charged with abuse of a corpse and evidence tampering.

Jayden Spicer was reported missing Aug. 6. Authorities and volunteers searched for the boy for nearly a week, before Felicia Gross confessed that he had died after having a reaction to sleeping medicine and she buried him in a shallow grave 20 miles from home.

Felicia and Joshua Gross are each being held on $1 million cash bonds.

The post Breathitt mother now charged with murder in son’s death; step-father also charged appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

A Floyd County man who has been accused of murder appeared in court for arraignment and to ask for his bond to be reduced.

The post Floyd County man accused of murder appears for arraignment appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

WHITESBURG, Ky. — We could soon know the results of a psychiatric evaluation of a former sheriff charged with murdering a district judge.

Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines is charged with murder for the shooting death of Letcher District Judge Kevin Mullins while the two men talked in Mullins’ office last September.

Defense attorneys have said all along that they plan to pursue an insanity defense in the case, which resulted in Stines being evaluated at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center.

That evaluation is now complete. Results of such exams are typically kept under seal, due to their sensitive nature.

But on Tuesday, Stines’ attorneys filed a motion asking that they be released publicly.

“The contents of the psychological evaluation are directly relevant to issues anticipated to be raised at the upcoming evidentiary hearing,” attorneys Jeremy and Kerri Bartley write in their motion. “The defendant seeks to introduce portions of the psychological evaluation at the evidentiary hearing to support his defense and ensure the court has a full and fair understanding of the relevant facts.”

Neither prosecutors nor the judge have yet responded to the request.

Stines is scheduled to appear in court Friday, Aug. 15, for a hearing on previously submitted motions to dismiss the indictment and set a bond. The psychiatric report is likely to come up during that hearing.

The post Stines’ attorneys seek release of psychiatric report appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Three months after reaching a plea deal that saw a murder charge against him dropped, a former assistant Pike County attorney is asking to be released from jail.

Donald Kyle Deskins, 56, of Kimper, is currently serving a five-year sentence in the Pike County Detention Center.

He had been charged with murder and two counts of evidence tampering related to the death of his wife, Judith, on April 24, 2021. A trial on the charges in 2024 ended with a hung jury.

In May, just before he was scheduled to go on trial a second time, he reached a deal with prosecutors that saw him enter an Alford plea to one count of evidence tampering in exchange for the other charges being dropped.

In June, he was sentenced to five years, although by that time he had already spent nearly two years either in jail or under home incarceration.

Last month, Deskins filed a motion for shock probation which would see him released immediately. Special Judge Alison Wells is considering the motion and expected to rule on the request soon.

The post Judge considering Deskins’ motion for shock probation appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Defendants in the Amber Spradlin murder case will be back in court Thursday for a hearing to see how the case is progressing ahead of its Dec. 1 trial date.

Spradlin’s body was found June 18, 2023, at the Arkansas Creek home of Prestonsburg dentist Michael McKinney. McKinney’s son, M.K. McKinney, has been charged with her murder, while both McKinneys and family friend Josh Mullins are charged with multiple counts of evidence tampering for allegedly trying to cover up the crime.

Tomorrow’s hearing will be the first held since the case was moved to Pike County. No major issues are currently before the court, but attorneys are expected to discuss the use of expert witnesses at trial.

This week, Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner filed a notice that he intends to call scientists from the Kentucky State Police Forensics Laboratory and Medical Examiner’s Office, and may call Dr. Bill Smock as a forensics expert. Turner also reserved the right to call DNA or psychiatric experts, in the event they become necessary.

Steven Romines, defense attorney for M.K. McKinney, has filed a motion asking that the judge require Turner to submit his full list of expert witnesses by Sept. 1.

Mountain Top Media plans to livestream tomorrow’s hearing on Mountain Top TV, the Mountain Top TV app and the Mountain Top News Facebook page. Coverage is expected to begin at 1:30 p.m.

The post Amber Spradlin murder case back in court on Thursday appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

WHITESBURG, Ky. — Prosecutors are pushing back against a motion to dismiss the indictment of former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Stines, who is charged with the September 2024 murder of District Judge Kevin Mullins.

In a court filing, Asst. Attorney General R. Ramsey Dallam and special prosecutor Jackie Steele argue that all grand jury procedures were properly followed and that claims of misconduct by the defense are unfounded.

The defense had alleged the indictment was invalid because part of the grand jury process was not recorded. But prosecutors say no testimony was presented during an Oct. 17, 2024, appearance, which was solely to request subpoenas for Stines’ medical and jail records —meaning no recording was legally required.

The only recorded testimony came the following month, when Det. Clayton Stamper presented evidence and answered juror questions. That recording has been provided to the defense.

Prosecutors also rejected claims that the grand jury was misled about Stines’ mental health or his decision not to speak with investigators, saying that argument “demonstrates a misunderstanding of the fundamental differences between grand jury proceedings and criminal trials.”

They point out that grand jury proceedings are investigative in nature and not bound by the same rules of evidence as criminal trials. They further note that jurors were given access to medical records and were free to ask questions.

The response argues that no false or misleading testimony was presented, and there’s no evidence the grand jury was denied critical information.

Prosecutors say dismissal of the indictment would be inappropriate and unsupported by law.

Stines is charged with murder of a public official — a capital offense — and has indicated plans to pursue an insanity defense.

A judge will decide whether the indictment stands or if further proceedings are needed.

The post Prosecutors file opposition to attempt to dismiss Stines indictment appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — Court records provide additional information about the allegations against a woman who was arrested during a court hearing for a Floyd County woman charged with murder.

It all happened during a preliminary hearing for Summer Adkins, 22, of Prestonsburg, who is charged with murder for the June 9 shooting death of her father, Jimmy Harvey, 62, of Prestonsburg.

Shortly after the hearing, Harvey’s sister, Tammy Adkins, 61, of Harold, was seen being taken away in handcuffs.

During the hearing, witnesses testified that Summer Adkins had been sexually abused as a child. Police said she told them she shot her father because she had learned he had allegedly been doing the same thing to a young relative. She was ordered to be released from jail and held under home incarceration.

But police say that development resulted in a chilling threat from Tammy Adkins.

Due to the emotional nature of the charges, the hearing was considered high-risk, and 14 police officers and sheriff’s deputies were posted in the courtroom. Once the hearing ended, family members were escorted from the courtroom by officers, and that is when the police report says Tammy Adkins made her threat.

A sheriff’s deputy wrote in his report, as Tammy Adkins entered the elevator, she told him she was glad Summer Adkins was getting out of jail, “because now when she leaves work, she can get her brains shot out.”

Tammy Adkins was arrested and charged with retaliating against a participant in the legal process. The charge is a felony, punishable by 1-to-5 years in prison.

During her arraignment Tuesday morning, she was ordered released on a $10,000 surety bond. She was further ordered to have no contact with Summer Adkins or be within 1,000 feet of her, and not to have any firearms in her possession.

Tammy Adkins will be back in court Wednesday, June 25, for a preliminary hearing.

A grand jury will consider whether to proceed with the prosecution of Summer Adkins on murder or other charges.

The post Court records detail alleged threat made against murder suspect by victim’s sister appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

A Prestonsburg woman is charged with the murder of her father after she allegedly shot him at his home Monday night.

The post Prestonsburg woman charged with the murder of her father appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — A Floyd County man is dead and his daughter is in jail, following a shooting overnight in Prestonsburg.

Prestonsburg Police received a call just before 11 p.m. from Summer Lynn Adkins, 22, of Prestonsburg, saying she had just shot her father, Jimmy Harvey, 62, of Prestonsburg.

Police and Prestonsburg Fire & EMS responded to the scene, where they found Harvey dead of multiple gunshot wounds.

Adkins was arrested and charged with murder.

The case remains under investigation by Det. Dennis Hutchison.

The post Floyd woman charged with murder after shooting father appeared first on Mountain Top Media.

WHITESBURG, Ky. — Attorneys for the former Letcher County sheriff accused of murdering a district judge last year say the case should be tossed out, due to alleged mishandling of the grand jury process.

Former Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines is charged with a single count of aggravated murder for shooting and killing District Judge Kevin Mullins in the judge’s chambers Sept. 19. Stines has already indicated he plans to seek an insanity defense if the case goes to trial, but now his lawyers say the indictment should be dismissed.

Their motion says the grand jury process was flawed on two grounds.

First, the attorneys say records of grand jury proceedings indicate there was an initial meeting of the grand jury to discuss the case which was not recorded, as required by Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure. Those rules explicitly state that failure to record grand jury proceedings shall be grounds for dismissal of an indictment.

Secondly, the motion claims grand jurors had sought mental health information that had come to light in a civil case against former sheriff’s detective Ben Fields, but were not given answers.

Fields was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, tampering with a prisoner monitoring device and perjury. He admitted to using his position to pressure a prisoner to have sex with him in Mullins’ office, among other places.

The motion argues that prosecutors and witnesses withheld information that could have resulted in the grand jury coming to a different conclusion about what charge Stines should face or whether he should be indicted at all.

The motion asks for the judge to set an evidentiary hearing to discuss the matters, with the goal of dismissing the indictment. No hearings have yet been set and prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion.

The post Defense attorneys ask for murder indictment against former Letcher sheriff to be dismissed appeared first on Mountain Top Media.