Legal News

Judge Kent Pleads Not Guilty to Additional Charges in Sexual Abuse Case

By Dan Slater

Earlier this week, prosecutors thickened the legal plot in the sexual harassment case against U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent, whose strange saga we’ve been covering since 2007. (See here, here, here, here and here for earlier LB coverage.)

Before Tuesday, Kent thought he was facing trial on Jan. 26 in Houston on three criminal charges, to which he’s pleaded not guilty. But in a superseding indictment, the feds lodged an additional three charges — one count of aggravated sexual abuse, one count of abusive sexual contact and one count of obstruction of justice.

The original charges stem from a complaint filed by Kent’s former case manager in Galveston, Cathy McBroom, but the alleged victim in the superseding indictment is only identified as “Person B.” Yesterday, Kent pleaded not guilty to the additional charges, too. The trial is reportedly still set for the 26th. Here’s the report from the Texas Lawyer. Here’s another from the Houston Chron.

For the original three charges, Kent faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison on each of the two counts of abusive sexual contact and up to life in prison on the attempted aggravated sexual abuse charge. The maximum fine on each charge is $250,000. The maximum punishment on the new abusive sexual contact charge is two years in prison. The maximum punishment on the new aggravated sexual abuse charge is life in prison and/or a $250,000 fine, and the maximum punishment on the new obstruction of justice charge is 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 08, 2009 (boomark / email).