KY Court of Appeals rejects former Gov. Matt Bevin’s request to block arrest warrant
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- Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled against Matt Bevin’s bid to block an arrest order.
- Appeals Judge Caldwell said the arrest and sentencing orders are afforded full force.
- The next Jefferson Family Court hearing in Bevin’s case is scheduled for July 28, 2026.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled against former Gov. Matt Bevin on Tuesday in his latest attempt to block an arrest order for contempt of court in Jefferson County.
Bevin, a Republican who served as governor from 2015 to 2019, has been entangled in complicated divorce and child support proceedings in Jefferson Family Court for more than a year.
Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson issued several arrest warrants for Bevin this year after he failed to provide personal financial documents that the court said were necessary for it to determine child support for his son Jonah.
On multiple occasions, Matt Bevin also has joined court proceedings virtually, despite instructions from Johnson for participants to attend in person.
Jonah Bevin is seeking retroactive child support after, he said, his parents abandoned him at an abusive youth facility in Jamaica when he was 16 and are no longer financially supporting him. He has intervened in the pending divorce case of his parents, Matt and Glenna Bevin.
Glenna filed for divorce from the former governor in 2023, which was finalized in March 2025.
Bevin recently asked the Court of Appeals to block Johnson’s latest arrest order, something he did successfully in March when the appellate court told Johnson to recall an earlier arrest warrant while Kentucky Chief Justice Debra Lambert considered Bevin’s request to force Johnson to recuse herself from his case.
However, Lambert has since denied Bevin’s recusal request, the Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in an opinion written by Judge Jacqueline Caldwell.
“Now that the Chief Justice has denied the requests for recusal, both the order for arrest and the sentencing order are afforded full force and effect,” Caldwell wrote.
The arrest warrant issued in June orders Matt Bevin to spend 60 days in the Louisville Metro jail and pay a $500 fine.
The next hearing in the case before Johnson is scheduled for July 28.
