Kentucky prosecutor to resign after pardon request

A Kentucky prosecutor who apologized for recommending a pardon for a sex offender whose family donated to his campaign is resigning, a state legislator said.

Rick Boling, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Christian County, recommended that former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin issue a pardon for Dayton Jones. Jones was serving a 15-year sentence for a sodomy conviction when he was let out of prison.

State Rep. Jason Nemes said Boling would resign on Feb. 28, The Courier Journal reported. The newspaper reported in 2020 that Boling cited false information in the pardon and had received campaign contributions from Jones' grandparents.

Nemes had introduced legislation to consider the impeachment of Boling and another state prosecutor, Ronnie Goldy Jr.

The victim in Jones' case was a 15-year-old who was unconscious when he was sodomized by a sex toy in 2014 and suffered serious injuries. After Jones was pardoned in December 2019, federal prosecutors charged him with producing child pornography, because he made a video of the assault. He was sentenced in May to eight years in federal prison.

Nemes said a committee appointed to consider impeachment of the two prosecutors will decide whether to suspend proceedings against Boling in light of his pending resignation.

(Photo courtesy of WPKY)