More than 20 protesters lined up in Hopkinsville on Monday to call for the resignation of their Commonwealth’s Attorney after he wrote a letter requesting the pardon of a sex offender.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling in a letter to former Governor Matt Bevin requested a pardon for Dayton Jones saying, without proof, he was targeted by Democratic prosecutors because of a political vendetta against Jones’ grandparents. According to the Courier Journal, Jones’ grandparents donated $3000 to Boling’s election campaign in 2018.
Boling later said the letter was “poorly written” and apologized. Tammy Mason helped organized the protest and said the letter sent to Matt Bevin is inexcusable.
“The apology was even worse than the original letter written, thinking that the citizens of this county are stupid and that they don’t know what he was meaning,” Mason said.
Jan Culwell, another protest organizer, said she believes no one should get preferential treatment when it comes to serving a sentence for sexual assault.
“What those young adults did to that child is unconscionable and it’s equally unconscionable for Rick Boling to write a letter in support of the perpetrator,” Culwell said.
Jones pleaded guilty in 2016 to using a sex toy to sodomize a passed-out 15-year-old boy. Jones was indicted Friday in Oldham County for allegedly promoting contraband while in prison.
Boling said he is not resigning. In an email, he said he made one lapse in judgment and wants to show citizens he can regain their trust and respect.
A follow-up protest is set to take place at the Christian County Justice Center next Friday at 9 a.m.
