The Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association voted last week to expel Christian County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling from its membership.
The vote removes Boling from membership in the Association and precludes them from attending future Association functions and conferences.
According to a media release, the Association does not have the ability to formally discipline, suspend or remove elected Commonwealth’s Attorneys from office.
Carrie Ovey-Wiggins is the commonwealth’s attorney for the 56th Judicial District and serves as the association’s president. She said serving as commonwealth’s attorney is a privilege, and so is membership in the Association. She added that information has come to light that falls well below the standard the Association believes it must uphold to maintain public trust.
The Kentucky Supreme Court issued a show-cause order against Boling in May to determine if his law license should be suspended.
That order was issued after three actions by Boling were questioned by other attorneys, law enforcement, and judges in three separate Christian County cases.
The May order came days after Circuit Judge Andrew Self dismissed a second-degree manslaughter charge against Seth Henderson, who was charged in an overdose death case. Henderson’s attorney, Olivia Adams, argued that Boling had falsified his testimony to the grand jury regarding text messages.
After hearing arguments based on testimony from the Christian County sheriff’s detectives and a review of the grand jury proceeding, Judge Self granted the motion to dismiss the indictment and found that Boling had provided false or misleading information to the grand jury that led to the indictment.
Two other incidents regarding Boling’s conduct in previous cases were also referenced in the order. One involved a 2020 letter Boling wrote on Christian County Commonwealth’s Attorney letterhead to then-Governor Matt Bevin concerning a pardon request for Dayton Jones, who was convicted of sexual assault. Bevin commuted Jones’ sentence and the order said Boling’s letter received extensive media attention.
After the letter was made public, Boling said he reached an informal agreement with Judge Self and Judge John Atkins to not appear in the courthouse for a period of time.
Six months later, a second complaint was lodged against Boling in the case regarding Karen Brafman who was charged with two counts of arson and six counts of attempted murder. The Supreme Court reversed a circuit court jury’s conviction in December 2020 due to Boling’s misconduct. The reversal order said Boling was personally aware of evidence that Brafman was intoxicated and argued to the court that evidence of her intoxication did not exist.
In addition to Boling, the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association also voted to expel Ronnie Goldy of Morehead who is accused of promising to do favors for a defendant in exchange for nude images of her.
