The trial commissioner overseeing the Kentucky Bar Association complaint against Christian County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling has recommended that he be suspended from practicing law for five years.
Commissioner Roderick Messner believes Boling is guilty of five rule violations regarding the letter he sent to former Governor Matt Bevin on behalf of convicted sex offender Dayton Jones as he sought a pardon or commutation and relating to misconduct in the arson and attempted murder trial of Karen Brafman.
He writes Boling made a statement he knew to be false when he wrote to Bevin that Jones’ biggest problem was that “the Democratic party controlled the prosecutor, the judge he stood before and Jones’ own attorney.”
The report says Boling also broke the rules when he engaged in “fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation” by writing the letter that contained multiple false statements.
Jones had accepted a plea deal in Christian Circuit Court for his role in the sexual assault of a 15-year old male, but had his sentence commuted in the final hours of Bevin’s lone term. He would later accept a plea deal in federal court that came with an eight-year sentence for child porn distribution related to the sharing of the video on social media.
In the Brafman case, Commissioner Messner writes Boling made false statements when he “took ‘deliberated and calculated’ actions to mislead the jury in the Brafman trial.”
The report says he committed additional misconduct by not making timely disclosure of all the evidence or information to the defense that could have benefitted their case in the trial and that he engaged in “dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” in the case, which led to the Kentucky Supreme Court overturning the verdict.
Brafman 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 Supreme Court overturned the verdict after a courtroom audio recording surfaced of Boling and a Kentucky State Police arson investigator acknowledging Brafman had been under the influence when she set the fire, despite him opposing a voluntary intoxication defense at trial.
Brafman 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.
Ultimately, Commissioner Messner recommends that Boling be found guilty on all five counts, that he be suspended from practicing law for five years and that he be required to reapply for admission to the Kentucky Bar Association upon completing that suspension.
Boling and the KBA have 10 days to request an amendment to the report and Boling will have 30 days to appeal to the KBA Board of Governors.
The ultimate decision on Boling’s fate will be up to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which could accept the final recommendation or make a decision of its own.
Click here to read the entire report.