Courtesy of Kentucky Lantern
LOUISVILLE — A judge sentenced former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to 60 days in jail after finding him in contempt of court for failing to disclose his financial details in a year-long legal battle with his estranged son, Jonah Bevin.
It is an extraordinary development for the one-term Republican governor who the judge said has resisted repeated orders to disclose personal financial details as his adopted son, now 19, seeks support in Jefferson Family Court after alleging that his parents abandoned him.
“Your arrest warrant will be issued today,” Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson said in imposing the sentence on Bevin, who was not present in the courtroom and attended by Zoom, though he had been ordered to appear in person for the hearing.
The judge later Tuesday entered a written order calling for the arrest of Bevin to serve 60 days in the Jefferson County Jail unless he posts a $500 cash bond and produces “financial records, bank statements, tax returns and all other documents that would show the receipt of income.”
Bevin told the judge he had to travel out of state to attend the funeral Monday of the father of his ex-wife, Glenna Bevin, and was on his way back to Kentucky. He did not disclose his location.
Bevin, at the hearing, interrupted the judge several times, seeking to correct her and arguing he was trying to provide the required information but needed more time to collect financial records.
But Johnson told Bevin he had been asked repeatedly by the court to provide information commonly produced in family court cases where child support is at stake.
“Every litigant in the commonwealth has to provide such information,” Johnson said to Bevin, who appeared to be attending from an office setting but didn’t say where he was. “I cannot treat Mr. Bevin or Mrs. Bevin any differently.”
Glenna Bevin was not subject to the contempt order because she has provided financial information.
It’s not clear when the arrest warrant would be served or when Bevin plans to return to Kentucky. He did not state where he was during Tuesday’s hearing.
Johnson said he could be relieved of the jail sentence once he produced requested financial information including tax returns, bank statements and details of all assets and income.
Bevin’s attorney, Jesse Mudd, declined to comment after the hearing.
Attorney Melina Hettiaratchi, who represents Jonah along with John H. Helmers Jr., said the judge could have imposed an even more severe penalty—contempt carries a sanction of up to 180 days in jail—given this is the second time Bevin has disregarded an order to appear in person and instead attended by Zoom.
“She could have done more,” Hettiaratchi said.
Helmers said he and Hettiaratchi, who have been representing Jonah for free, will also ask the court to order Bevin to pay some of the costs in the case which he said now amount to about $30,000.
Helmers said they took the case because they knew Jonah needed help.
“It would have been impossible for Jonah to do it on his own,” he said.
‘A political pinata’
The decision came following a last-minute effort by Bevin to have Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson removed from his case, citing her alleged bias.
In a motion filed late Monday, Bevin claimed Johnson’s rulings against him were motivated by her desire for media attention because of his former role as governor from 2015-2019. He also said the judge has made false claims about him in his ongoing divorce case with his ex-wife Glenna including that the two had tried to conceal their financial information.
“She is using me as a political pinata,” Bevin said in an affidavit, accusing the judge of “making up the rules as she goes along.”
“It is likewise clear to me that Judge Johnson’s decisions are being motivated by her personal desire for ‘earned media’ as a government employee who must seek re-election to remain a circuit court judge in the future.”
Johnson was elected in 2022 to an eight-year term and would face re-election in 2030, according to Ballotpedia, an online election site.
Bevin’s motion asked Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert to disqualify Johnson and replace her with another judge.
But Johnson declined to take up that motion Tuesday or say whether she would recuse herself, saying she had checked with the Supreme Court, which informed her the motion filed by Bevin’s lawyer was procedurally defective and would have to be refiled.
“There has been no proper motion filed for this court to decide,” she said.
Jonah, 19, is one of four children the Bevins adopted from Ethiopia in 2012. He alleged in court filings his parents abandoned him at age 17 in a brutally abusive youth facility in Jamaica closed by authorities in 2024.
He described Bevin’s motion to remove the judge as another stalling tactic in a case that has dragged on for more than a year, saying that instead of following the judge’s orders, “he’s trying to get rid of her.”
“I’m a teenager with no support, no resources and no ability to wait him out while he does everything he can to avoid sitting down with a judge,” he said. “I’m not a legal strategy. I’m his kid and the clock is running.”
In a statement, Jonah’s lawyers, Helmers and Hettiaratchi, said of Matt Bevin that “the judge has done nothing but give him a fair shot.”
“Now that it is crystal clear that he is going to have to play by the same rules as everyone else, he is taking shots at the judge.”
On his own
Bevin, a one-term Republican governor, campaigned in 2015 on a promise to make sweeping improvements to the state child foster and adoption system he said obstructed his and his former wife’s effort to adopt a child in Kentucky.
Jonah has alleged his father used him to “boost” his campaign.
In an affidavit filed with the court last week, Jonah said he is living on his own in Utah with few resources and no support from the Bevins.
On Friday, after finding Bevin in contempt of court, Johnson gave Bevin until noon March 24 to produce the detailed financial records or face sanctions ranging from a fine to jail time of up to 180 days in jail. Jonah has intervened in his parents’ divorce, seeking support and help with completing his education before a final settlement is approved.
Johnson warned Bevin at last week’s hearing he risked sanctions after failing to provide complete financial information as ordered.
“I have no choice but to hold you in contempt of court for violating the court’s order,” Johnson said at the conclusion of the 90-minute hearing. “You didn’t do what you were supposed to do when you were supposed to do it.”
‘Bad faith’
The judge in court rebuked Bevin last week when he testified by Zoom while driving a vehicle for interrupting her and making incorrect statements.
She repeated that in a written order released Monday affirming her ruling from the bench that Bevin was in contempt of court for disregarding repeated orders over the past 10 months to produce his financial information.
“He continuously spoke over the court when it attempted to correct him about his misrepresentations or address objections made by counsel,” the order said. “With both his pecuniary and liberty interests at stake, he continued to act in bad faith in the direct presence of the court.”
Johnson said she is considering ordering support for Jonah Bevin, saying she also believed from court testimony and other documentation “he likely lacks an adequate high school education.”
Both Glenna and Matt Bevin were directed by Johnson on March 10 to provide their financial information to the court and to Jonah’s lawyers within 48 hours.
Glenna Bevin subsequently provided her financial records but Matt Bevin provided only limited and partially redacted information, Johnson’s March 23 order said.
“The nature and value of Matt’s assets are relevant to the issue of child support; he SHALL tender information on these valuations to Jonah and file the same with the court,” the order said.
Deborah Yetter is an independent journalist who previously worked for 38 years for The Courier Journal, where she focused on child welfare and health and human services. She lives in Louisville and has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville. She is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.
