Governor Matt Bevin has issued a full and unconditional pardon for a former Christian County sheriff’s deputy and deputy jailer convicted of engaging in a consensual sexual relationship with a woman under the supervision of the Department of Corrections.
Forty-five-year-old Brandon Lee Hawkins was arrested in 2013 on charges of third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy and first-degree official misconduct. A two-day trial in 2014 led to a guilty verdict on all counts and the jury gave him a one-year prison sentence.
While the victim in the case acknowledged the sexual relationship with Hawkins was consensual, that doesn’t matter under Kentucky law since Hawkins was is in a position of authority over the woman.
In Bevin’s pardon for Hawkins issued on December 2, he asserts Hawkins “paid his debt to society for his lapse in judgement some years ago.”
The pardon restores all rights Hawkins lost when he became a convicted felon.
