Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers says the Senate will urge the U.S. Attorney’s office to look into the pardons issued by former Governor Matt Bevin.
According to a statement released by Stivers Friday afternoon, the Senate fully supports the gathering of facts and the launching of an investigation into all of Bevin’s pardons. Stivers notes from what they know of Bevin’s extreme pardons and commutations, the Senate Republican Majority condemns his actions as a travesty and perversion of justice. He adds Kentucky citizens, especially the crime victims and their families deserve better.
This action comes after Bevin issued 428 pardons and commutations during his final days in office, including the pardon of Brandon Hawkins, a former Christian County Sheriff’s deputy and deputy jailer, who was convicted in 2015 of rape and other offenses in connection to a consensual sexual relationship with an inmate on supervised release. Bevin also commuted the sentence of Dayton Jones, who pled guilty in 2016 to first-degree sodomy, first -degree wanton endangerment, and first-degree distribution of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor in connection to the sexual assault of a 15-year old male at a party at a residence on Lafayette Road in 2014.
