Representing himself in protective order hearing, former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin questions adopted son

Yahoo

21-03-2025

Forgoing outside attorneys and representing himself in the courtroom, former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin took the stand Friday morning in Jefferson Family Court and interrogated his adopted son face-to-face over the teen's request for a protective order against the couple who adopted him 13 years ago.
Jonah Bevin, the adopted son of Matt and Glenna Bevin, retold the story he's outlined in his emergency protective order request filed earlier this month and in conversations with The Courier Journal and other media outlets.
Now 18, the Ethiopia native who was adopted by the Bevins in 2012 and filed for an emergency protective order earlier this month is seeking long-term protective orders against them over his allegations of abuse and abandonment.
Matt and Glenna Bevin, whose divorce was finalized earlier this week, did not comment following the hearing. No ruling was given by Judge Angela Johnson, and the case will continue Tuesday afternoon, with witness testimonies expected.
Glenna Bevin is being represented in the case by high-profile Louisville attorney Steve Romines, who questioned Jonah for about 25 minutes about his treatment and interactions with his adoptive mother, while Jonah was joined by local counsel John Helmers.
Dawn J. Post, a New York-based child advocacy attorney who's worked on Jonah's case in the months leading up to Friday's hearing, was in the crowd but did not participate in the hearing.
Matt Bevin did not hire an attorney and questioned Jonah himself. The former governor, in office from late 2015 through 2019, alternated between referring to himself in first and third person as he interrogated the teen over Jonah's allegations that his adoptive parents had mistreated and abused him during his childhood years and had abandoned him last year at an abusive home for "troubled teens" in Jamaica.
Romines closed his questioning after asking Jonah if Glenna Bevin had "threatened you in any way, or been violent with you or really even seen you" in the past year, and the teen replied she had not.
In the filing for the emergency protective order that was approved earlier this month and in comments in the courtroom, Jonah said Glenna had hit him as a child, referencing one instance in court that had occurred at the former couple's home in Anchorage, and would say "disrespectful things" about his biological mother, who Jonah has not contacted since coming to the U.S. and who he believed was dead.
Matt Bevin, who at one point was asked by the judge to look at her instead of Jonah while the teen was answering questions from Helmers, took over questioning after Romines was finished. He went back and forth with Jonah for about 25 more minutes before the hearing concluded, at times alluding to inaccuracies in his adopted son's statements.
One point of contention is a planned trip overseas last month for Jonah to meet his biological mother.
Jonah, who was living in Utah at the time after leaving a "troubled teens" school in the state, has said Matt Bevin reached out to him in late February and asked, "How would you like to go to Ethiopia?" Jonah, who said he grew up being told his biological mother was dead, said he responded by saying he's not comfortable, but that Matt Bevin ignored that reply and sent him information about a flight and then a photo of a woman he said was Jonah's mother.
"He said that your mother's alive and sends me a picture of my mother that day — after they've been telling me my whole life she's been dead," Jonah recalled. He eventually agreed to go, but backed out over concerns the information he'd been given wasn't accurate and about who he'd be with when he arrived in Ethiopia.
"It's a personal choice whether you went or not," Matt Bevin replied, saying he wanted to make the point that they'd spoken about Jonah traveling to Ethiopia before. Jonah said after he backed out of the trip, his adopted father told him that he'd missed his only opportunity to meet his biological mother.
"Later, we'll provide the court with the actual documentation of the communication and what was actually said," Matt Bevin said, closing that line of questioning.
Jonah filed for an emergency protective order against his adopted father earlier this month, which required Matt Bevin to avoid contact with Jonah in the interim and temporarily turn over his firearms to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
The 18-year-old Ethiopia native's story first came to light last summer, when London-based The Times reported on a law enforcement raid of the "Atlantis Leadership Academy" in Jamaica, a boarding school for "troubled teens" where Jonah had been staying that has been accused of abusing kids in its care. His adopted parents did not attend court hearings to determine how to bring him back to the U.S.
In an interview earlier this month with The Courier Journal, Jonah said he'd been sent to several similar programs in the U.S. since 2020, when he was 13, due to strife at home with his adopted parents. Just before he was sent to Jamaica in 2023, he was arrested as a juvenile following a confrontation with Matt Bevin at his Anchorage home, he said in the EPO filing, which also said the ex-governor would "push (him) around" and "insult and antagonize (him)."
While living in Utah last month following his release from a "troubled teens" school in November, Jonah said he was contacted by a man on behalf of his adopted parents, who said the family had found his biological mother in Africa and had purchased a plane ticket for him to meet her. Jonah eventually backed out, he said, over concerns about the credibility of that information.
Post, the attorney who's represented Jonah leading up to Tuesday's hearing, has said she believes Jonah's adopted parents could be criminally charged with abandonment, a class D felony in Kentucky. The EPO was filed due to "the nature of the threats, abandonment, and neglect," according to court documents, with 'reasonable cause to believe that further harm may occur' if it were not granted.
Jonah was one of four Ethiopian children adopted by the Bevin family in 2012. Matt Bevin was outspoken about issues with Kentucky's foster care system during his campaign ahead of the 2015 gubernatorial election, frequently appearing with his family at campaign events, and during his four years in office. Jonah has since said he believes he was adopted for "public image."
Matt and Glenna Bevin have not responded to requests for comment from The Courier Journal or any other news outlet about Jonah's allegations. Criminal charges have not been filed.
This story may be updated.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Matt Bevin questions adopted son Jonah in protective order court case