Christan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling says a letter he wrote to former Governor Matt Bevin requesting the pardon of a convicted sex offender was ‘poorly written.’
A report from The Courier-Journalon Thursday said Boling in a letter asked former Governor Matt Bevin to pardon convicted sex offender Dayton Jones, the grandson of a couple Boling received campaign contributions from.
Jones pleaded guilty in 2016 to using a sex toy to sodomize a passed-out 15-year-old boy. Boling in the letter alleged Jones was targeted by Democratic prosecutors because of a political vendetta against Jones’ grandparents, Jackie and Tony Jones. Boling told the Courier-Journal he didn’t have proof of that allegation. In a phone call with WKMS, Boling said the letter may have created more of a problem than what may have existed.
“Had I written a letter properly and articulated everything in there that I did, then there may have been some backlash, but I don’t believe it would be to the extent what will happen because of the fact that it was such a poorly written letter,” Boling said.
Boling said he should have clarified Jones’ grandparents were making that allegation.
“The letter should have said that I was writing it on behalf of them to express their feelings, but I did not,” Boling said. “That falls on me. That’s a poorly written letter.”
Boling said the couple made a contribution to his most recent election campaign. The Courier-Journal reports the couple’s combined contribution from 2018 was $3,000 dollars.
