Mercer County District Attorney Found Guilty of 10 Charges

Mercer County District Attorney Miles Karson has been found guilty by a jury of 10 crimes, and not guilty of one. One of the charges he was found guilty of was obstruction.

Two charges that Carson faced were dismissed.

Karson had been accused of misusing his position as district attorney to change the outcome of traffic and criminal cases that involve a woman he was allegedly having an affair with.

Karson took the witness stand and insisted he was only trying to help the woman. He said he was not involved with her romantically and did not break the law.

At the trial, Tonya Bulboff was one of the main witnesses. She was questioned repeatedly about her relationship with the district attorney and about using the word "intimate" when she testified in front of a grand jury.

Allegedly, Karson tried to get charges dismissed against Bulboff many times. One of those times, she had been charged with forging checks. Other cases involved car crashes where Karson helped her avoid drunk driving charges by taking her away from the scene. According to a grand jury, Karson kept Bulboff from going to jail multiple times, using his power as District Attorney to do so.

Also described at the trial was an incident where Bulboff, in the street in her underwear, yelled profanities at or about Karson.

Though Bulboff denied having a romantic or sexual relationship with Miles Karson, the prosecution played a passionate 2017 call to Karson from the jail, where Bulboff said that she had not cheated with anybody. The prosecutors implied, based on those words, that she had a close relationship with the district attorney.

Bulboff blamed another man, named Jim Combine, for her actions, and described being responsible for repaying $30,000 that she had stolen from her employer, along with time spent in jail. Bulboff stated that Combine told her they could make lies up about Karson and blackmail him.

Bulboff admitted that she was a recovering addict.

Bulboff’s testimony was four hours long. She described her problems with drugs and the trouble that she got into because of them. She also said she repeatedly played the victim.

When he testified, Karson stated that he knew Bulboff’s parents, who are now deceased, and that she had gone to grade school with his sons. He described Bulboff as his “project,” saying he was going to fix her so she could help herself. Her father had asked Karson to help Bulboff get her bond lowered in regards to her theft charges. He talked her into turning herself in, called police to see if she could get no bond or a low bond, and then recused himself from the case. Despite his recusal, Karson admitted that he continued to get involved when she got into trouble.

Combine also testified in the trial.

Miles Karson was originally faced with 17 counts, to which he pled not guilty in December of 2017. All were misdemeanors, and 10 were for obstruction. He will receive his sentence at a later date.

Getting in the way of a criminal investigation is never a good idea, as Mr. Karson is now discovering. At a minimum, he’s facing some hefty fines. Given the number of convictions and his position as a government official, the judge might go harder on him and give him a short jail sentence.

If that happens – the jail sentence – Karson will be even unhappier, I would imagine. There will be people in there that he prosecuted, and they are not going to be happy to see him. Well, maybe they will be, but that happiness might be an ugly happy.

The State Attorney General, a man dedicated to eliminating corruption, has taken an avid interest in the case. My guess is, Mr. Karson will have even more consequences to face in the future … such as finding a new job.