Kentucky man let out of prison by Bevin admits guilt on child porn charge

A Western Kentucky man let out of prison in 2019 by then-Gov. Matt Bevin pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge arising from the same sex crime.

Dayton Jones, of Hopkinsville, pleaded guilty to a charge of using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction, commonly known as production of child pornography.

Jones, now 27, was at a party in 2014 where a number of underage people drank alcohol. After one 15-year-old boy passed out, several others took turns sodomizing him with a 12-inch sex toy, according to a sworn statement from FBI special agent Renee Chouinard.

Jones took part in the abuse and made a video that he posted to SnapChat, Chouinard said.

The 15-year-old suffered significant injuries.

Jones pleaded guilty in state court in 2016 to first-degree sodomy, first-degree wanton endangerment and distributing material portraying a sexual performance by a minor.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but in December 2019 Bevin commuted Jones’ sentence to time served, freeing him after three years.

Bevin said at the time there was no evidence Jones was guilty, though others involved in the crime implicated Jones and the prosecutor argued there was sufficient evidence against him.

Federal authorities initiated an investigation and a federal grand jury indicted Jones in June 2020.

The federal case arose from the same alleged crime Jones faced in state court, but was a different charge. That’s why he could be prosecuted in federal court despite the commutation in his state case.

The plea deal for Jones in the federal case calls for a 10-year sentence. Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell also ordered him to pay $50,000 to the victim, according to a news release.

Russell will decide later if Jones gets credit against his federal sentence for the time he spent in state prison.

Bevin, a Republican, issued hundreds of pardons and commutations in his final days in office, causing an outcry from family members of crime victims, prosecutors and elected officials.

In another high-profile case, a federal jury convicted Patrick Baker in August on a charge of murdering a Knox County drug dealer during a robbery gone wrong.

Baker had been convicted in state court of reckless homicide and other charges in the case, but Bevin pardoned him in December 2019.

The case has drawn scrutiny because Baker’s brother and sister-in-law had held a political fundraiser for Bevin the year before.

Baker is scheduled to be sentenced in December. He faces up to life in prison.