Legal News

From Bad to Worse for Judge Kent

By Ashby Jones

This year hasn’t been a good one for Houston federal judge Samuel Kent. And on Wednesday, it got a little worse.

The 5th Circuit Judicial Council and Chief Judge Edith Jones formally recommended his consideration for impeachment for criminal misconduct. The council and Judge Jones also rejected his bid to be certified as disabled. A disabled classification would have allowed the 59-year-old judge to retire with full salary, though that may not have saved him from being impeached.

Despite the decisions, Kent continues to collect his annual $174,000 pay until he resigns or is removed by Congress.

In February, Kent chose to plead guilty to one claim of obstruction of justice for lying to Jones and other federal judges who in 2007 investigated complaints that he repeatedly sexually molested former female employees. Kent also admitted to sexually abusing two women as part of his plea earlier this year. He begins a 33-month prison sentence in June. Click here for Thursday’s story, from the Houston Chron; here and here for earlier LB posts on Kent.

Wrote Judge Jones, in her ruling: “the interpretation (of federal law) must be influenced by public policy that a claimant should not profit from his own wrongdoing by engaging in criminal misconduct and then collecting a federal retirement salary."

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 28, 2009 (boomark / email).