A judge heard several hours of testimony Tuesday in a Kentucky Bar Association hearing regarding potential discipline against Christian County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling.
The alleged rule violations in question are regarding two incidents. The first was the letter Boling wrote to former Governor Matt Bevin on behalf of Dayton Jones as he sought a pardon or commutation from charges related to the 2014 video-recorded sexual assault of a 15-year old male at a party on Lafayette Road and the second is actions that were deemed prosecutorial misconduct that led to the Kentucky Supreme Court overturning a guilty verdict against convicted arsonist Karen Brafman.
In his letter to the Republican Bevin on the final day of his one term, Boling wrote “This case does not pass the smell test” and adds Jones’ “biggest problem is that the Democratic Party controlled the prosecutor, the judge he stood before and Jones’ own attorney.”
Judge John Atkins testified Tuesday that he was “devastated” and “disappointed” when he read the letter. He added he “felt betrayed because as I saw it the only reason Rick Boling had a legal career in Christian County was because of me. For him to say these things about me was extremely hurtful.”
Atkins brought Boling to Hopkinsville in the late 1990’s as an assistant when Atkins was the county’s first full-time Commonwealth’s Attorney.
Boling later clarified that he does not believe Judge Atkins or the attorneys are controlled by the Democratic party and he believes Atkins is a “good judge.”
Boling also claimed in the letter that the assault that left the boy with life-threatening injuries was not sexual in nature and that “this was intoxicated teenagers and people in their early 20’s being stupid and immature.”
Asked Tuesday to clarify if he believes the crime was a sexual assault Boling said, “These young men were doing something that was stupid, something that was dangerous. It was not done for the purpose of a sexual act…It did not look like he was a sexual predator or that these people who were doing this were sexual predators. They were instead committing an assault of a severe degree.” He pointed out that the first sentence of the letter only asks for a pardon on the sodomy charge because the family was very concerned about Jones having to be a registered sex offender upon his release.
Boling said it was his intent at the time only to relay the thoughts of Dayton Jones’ grandmother—Jackie Jones—who he was talking to on the phone while he hastily typed out the letter on a Saturday afternoon at his office.
When he returned to work Monday, he testified he saw the letter on his computer, printed it out without looking it over a second time, scanned it into his computer and emailed it to Ms. Jones. Boling testified he “thought there is no way this is going to go anywhere because I had other clients seeking pardon and was told applications needed to be in a month or two before end of term.”
He added, “that was my mistake. I should have re-read the letter on Monday and made multiple changes to the document.” He was also unaware at the time the letter could be obtained through an open records request.
He testified he was also unaware at the time that Senator Whitney Westerfield had sent a text message to an attorney close to Bevin on behalf of the Jones family advocating for Dayton or that Bevin’s general counsel—Steve Pitt—also advocated for a pardon or commutation.
Boling sent a news release to several media outlets apologizing to the community for his letter and says he personally apologized to Judge John Atkins, Judge Andrew Self, multiple local attorneys, the Christian County Grand Jury that was in session and others locally and across the state.
Both circuit judges filed a complaint with the KBA against Boling and he was banned from appearing in person in their courtroom in most cases for over a year until the ban was relinquished as the case dragged on.
Asked what he’s learned Boling said, “there are no excuses for what I did. What I did was wrong. It hurt several people. It was avoidable. I’ve learned that just because you want to help somebody doesn’t mean you can always help somebody. Sometimes you can’t help somebody you really want to help.”
He denied that his decision to send the letter to Bevin was swayed by any campaign contribution made to him by the Jones family and says they never brought up that contribution to him.
He says he’s never spoken to the victim of the assault directly, but says he apologized to the victim through a third party when that person said that was the best way for them to communicate.
Jones’ initial plea deal included a 10-year sentence for one count of first-degree sodomy, four years for one count of first-degree wanton endangerment and a year for a charge relating to the video recording of the incident that was shared on social media. The sentences were set to run consecutively for a total of 15 years.
Following his commutation, he was federally indicted and pled guilty to one count of production of child pornography and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jones’ three co-defendants—Colton Cavanaugh, Tyler Perry and Sam Miller—all accepted plea deals with varying sentences in circuit court.
The second matter discussed was the case of Karen Brafman, who set fire to a mobile home with two adults and four children inside in May of 2018. A jury found Brafman guilty of first-degree arson, second-degree arson and six counts of attempted murder and gave her a life sentence.
The Kentucky Supreme Court later overturned the verdict, finding “flagrant prosecutorial misconduct” by Boling.
Brafman’s defense presented a private lunchtime conversation recorded by the courtroom microphones between Boling and KSP Arson Detective Scott Steward as evidence in its appeal.
Boling tells Steward he considered calling him back to the stand after initial testimony to ask if Brafman looked like she was high on the morning of the fire when she was questioned. Steward reportedly responded, “Well, she was out of her frickin’ mind,” and Boling laughed and said “That’s why I didn’t ask that question.”
During his closing arguments later that day Boling asserted, “It’s not drugs, it’s not high. Not one single witness testified to you that she appeared under the influence, intoxicated, drugged or anything.”
He also opposed a jury instruction that could have taken into account “voluntary intoxication.”
Boling on Tuesday stuck by his belief that intoxication didn’t play a role in her crimes, as she showed prior intent when she disabled smoke detectors in the mobile home the day prior to setting the fire and carried kerosene to the scene to set two separate fires under each side of the trailer where members of the family slept.
He also pointed out she later pled guilty to two counts of arson and six counts of attempted murder as part of a deal that came with a 20-year sentence.
Boling says while he wasn’t happy with the Supreme Court ruling and had issues with the opinion, it has made him be more cautious at trial about certain things and if he had it do to over, he would have not opposed the voluntary intoxication jury instruction.
Boling’s attorney presented several character witnesses on his behalf, including former Commonwealth’s Attorney Woodfin “Petey” Rogers, who worked with Boling in the late 90’s and says he’s “always fair in his dealings with people.”
Area attorney Stephanie Mize testified she would have written a letter to Bevin herself, had she been asked, saying she didn’t agree with how it was prosecuted by Pryor and the Attorney General’s Office.
Mize says she’s never had any problems with Boling regarding honesty or integrity in her 25 years of practicing law.
Special Judge Roderick Messer will hear a deposition from former Assistant Attorney General Jon Heck and read final briefs from both sides before making a recommendation to the Bar Association Board of Governors.
The Board will then either accept that recommendation for potential discipline against Boling and issue a ruling or assert its own ruling.
The attorneys for the KBA and Boling will then have the opportunity to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court, if they choose.
Boling is represented by Louisville attorney Peter Ostermiller and Sarah Coker is the lead attorney for the KBA.
Judge Messer would not allow WHOP News to take photos or video or audio recordings of the proceedings.
