The state Supreme Court ruled this week to suspend former Christian County commonwealth’s attorney Rick Boling from practicing law for five years. He resigned from his post in the 3rd Judicial District in February to avoid impeachment.
In a separate ruling, the court dissolved the temporary suspension of Ronnie Goldy – the former 21st Judicial Circuit commonwealth’s attorney representing Rowan, Menifee, Bath and Montgomery counties – from practicing law.
Impeachment proceedings for the two former commonwealth’s attorneys were announced in January.
House Majority Floor Whip Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, had filed resolutions at the start of this year’s session for the state House of Representatives to convene a committee to consider whether to recommend impeachment against Boling and Goldy.
Boling and Goldy were both expelled last August from the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association, a state group representing the elected prosecutors, on the grounds that Goldy and Boling had conducted themselves in manners “well below” the standards set for commonwealth’s attorneys.
Boling, who represented Christian County, reportedly falsified testimony that led to an indictment and wrote a letter to former Gov. Matt Bevin asking him to pardon a sex offender, claiming without proof that his conviction was a vendetta against the offender’s grandparents who had reportedly donated to Boling’s campaign. Boling apologized for writing the letter in 2020.
Goldy was impeached in March over trading favors with a defendant for nude photos. It was the first impeachment trial on the Kentucky Senate floor in 135 years. He can no longer hold elected office in the state of Kentucky.
