Judge will learn his fate today (Samuel Kent)

[sonias]

Houston Chronicle 5/11/09
Samuel Kent, who wielded power as a federal judge for 18 years, is very likely to be sentenced to prison today for obstructing justice.
Federal jurist Kent likely headed to prison for trying to hinder inquiry into sex offenses

Kent, 59, pleaded guilty in February to obstruction of justice for lying to a judicial committee investigating an allegation he sexually harassed an employee. The longtime Galveston judge also acknowledged that he’d had nonconsensual sexual contact with two female employees between 2003 and 2007.

(snip)

The obstruction charge carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. Prosecutors requested that the man appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 be sentenced to three years in prison, but Vinson is not bound by that recommendation.

Kent, like other federal trial judges, was appointed for life and is still drawing his salary from the government, though he is no longer hearing cases. His salary, with a recent cost of living increase, is $174,000 a year. In the eleven weeks since he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, Kent has been paid about $36,000. He will keep being paid unless he resigns or is impeached.

Rather than resigning, he has asked Judge Edith Jones, chief judge of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to grant him the early retirement so he can keep getting his pay for life. Jones would not comment for this story on Kent’s request or whether the judicial council has met or will meet on Kent’s case.

This man is disgusting. How dare he think he should continue to draw his salary! :grr:


Sonia

[WolverineDG]

1. It's the same with all those corrupt cops who "retire"

the day before they plead guilty to corruption. :grr: :nuke: They get to keep their retirement & living off the public dime because when they "retired," they were only under indictment. That's one loophole I want closed.

dg

[Baby Snooks]

2. 32 months...

They just announced the sentence. 32 months. There is some justice because many were worried he would receive a suspended sentence.

[sonias]

3. Well I'm glad he got some sentence

KHOU.com 5/11/09

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent was sentenced to 33 months Monday. He was also fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to the two women whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case against a sitting federal judge. Kent could have received up to 20 years in prison after admitting to obstruction of justice, but prosecutors said they wouldn’t seek more than three years under a plea agreement. “Your wrongful conduct is a huge black X ... a stain on the judicial system itself, a matter of concern in the federal courts,” U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson said as he imposed the sentence. Vinson is a visiting senior judge called in from Pensacola, Fla.

(snip)
Federal judges must be at least 65 before they can retire and reaching that age allows them to still collect their full salaries for the remainder of their lives.

Kent, who was paid $169,300 a year, is 59. The only way a younger judge could retire and still collect his salary would be to claim a disability, either mental or physical. A federal judge who resigns gets nothing.

So did he resign? Do I understand that part correctly? I certainly hope he will not continue to draw a salary.

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

6. Any word on Killer Keller? nt

[sonias]

7. Nope

But we did learn that she "corrected" her financial disclosures - i.e. TEC filings.

AAS 5/03/09
Keller discloses $2.4 million in property

The top judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reported more than $2.4 million in previously undisclosed income and real estate holdings.

Presiding Judge Sharon Keller listed the income and assets in an amended report on her personal finances filed last week with the Texas Ethics Commission.

Keller said she had omitted the information from previous disclosures because her father, Dallas landowner and restaurateur Jack Keller, hadn't told her of them, The Dallas Morning News reported in Saturday's editions.

Sonia

[WolverineDG]

8. "Oh sorry I forgot to count the spare change found between the sofa cushions?

I call "bullshit" on her excuse. $2.5 million lying around that she doesn't know about? HELLO, IRS??? I think we've got a live one!

dg

[Baby Snooks]

4. 33 months...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6417805.html

Channel 11 initially reported 32 months. As for his salary, unless he resigns or is impeached and removed by Congress he will continue to draw his salary until he retires at which point he will receive a federal pension which I believe is equal to the amount of salary at the point of retirement. He has petitioned the 5th Circuit Court to allow him to retire early which will protect his federal pension if he is impeached and removed by Congress. Which of course is why he has petitioned for early retirement. The 5th Circuit may not grant it and most suspect it won't because of the "shenanigans" which involved the 5th Circuit in an attempt to quash the matter in the beginning.

Edith Jones is sort of an enigma. A hard-core conservative but at the same time a "purist" with regard to the Constitution and the matter of equality. She "corrected" Melinda Harmon, another appointee of George HW Bush, several years ago after Melinda Harmon dismissed a lawsuit against the City of Houston on the basis that "homosexuals have no protections or rights under the law" and "corrected" her by stating, to the dismay of quite a few conservatives, that in fact everyone does.

[sonias]

5. Well then they better start impeachment hearings on this guy

This is a horrible case. Taxpayers are paying salary to a convicted sexual abuser. Where is the outrage on the right?

:puke:

Sonia

[thevoiceofreason]

9. Thank goodness I won't have to practice before him anymore.

[sonias]

10. Portrait of courage - one of the victims

Houston Chronicle 5/11/09
Kent's punishment brings vindication to victim
Court coordinator says she overcame fears to pursue sexual misconduct case against judge

The odds favored her silence.

Cathy McBroom, a twice-married federal court case manager with a high school degree versus a formidable federal judge, a towering mercurial man who ruled like a king over Galveston’s lone U.S. court.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent seemed untouchable, appointed by a U.S. president, approved by Congress to serve for a lifetime. His sentencing Monday — two years after McBroom first accused him of attempting to sexually assault her — brought both vindication and sorrow.

"I’m very satisfied," said McBroom, who gave her first interview to the Houston Chronicle. Kent "was treated like any other defendant." Being allowed to deliver her victim statement publicly at a federal court hearing Monday made McBroom feel "like a big weight has been lifted," she said.

"I did the right thing and didn’t have to lose my job," McBroom said. Maybe it will give other women the opportunity to come forward … (but) I was not out for vengeance. For someone like the judge who had a brilliant mind, it’s a horrible thing."

Good for her - she did not suffer in silence and by speaking out she helped other women from her same fate with the creep.

:applause:

Sonia

[thevoiceofreason]

11. She did good.

He was a heel - on his best day.

There were about 3 lawyers he favored who could get anything in front of him. I am shocked there is not a RICO investigation against him - but that might have been part of the deal.

[Baby Snooks]

12. The deal...

That's what makes me so angry. The deal these schmucks make to protect "co-conspirators" who of course will just buy the next judge which probably isn't hard to do. As for the "co-conspirators" they usually have so much on so many the Justice Department just simply won't go there. I bet the phones were ringing off the wall as soon as this began. Justice in this country leaves much to be desired.

Someone asked on the main forum if the state can still prosecute for sexual assault - I assume they can't. But can they?

That's what most would like to see him convicted of. Sexual assault. Not a Scooter Libby "technicality."

I wonder how many complaints were filed against him with the Justice Department and with members of Congress over his real obstruction of justice which apparently quite a few attorneys experienced? The Justice Department of course likes more than just one complaint but never says how many is one too many complaints. In some cases, there is no such thing.

[sonias]

13. Impeachment hearings will commence

Houston Chronicle 5/12/09
Kent sentenced to 33 months behind bars
Congressional impeachment proceedings likely to begin today

Congressional impeachment proceedings will likely begin today against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, who was sentenced to 33 months in prison Monday for lying to those investigating him for sexual misconduct.

"Unless Judge Samuel Kent immediately resigns, we intend to introduce a resolution jointly (Tuesday) to commence an inquiry into whether grounds exist to impeach him and remove him from office," said a joint statement issued by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, the committee’s ranking Republican member.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a former chairman of the panel, plans to file papers for proposed impeachment today, spokeswoman Wendy Riemann said.

Kent, 59, retired shortly after pleading guilty in February and is positioned to continue drawing his $174,000 annual paycheck, despite his conviction, unless he resigns or is removed from the bench. His lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said the impeachment talk is premature.

Well how about that - Lamar Smith is not going to protect the guilty on this one. Let's hope he sees it through.

Sonia

[Baby Snooks]

14. Only because the party can't afford another "poster boy."

If the party weren't in trouble, Kay "Bailout-Wall-Street-But-To-Hell-With-Main-Street" Hutchison would be waving her pom-poms and doing her favorite cheer for corruption.

"Give me a T, give me an E, give me a C..." Democrats commit crimes. Republicans commit technicalities.

I get chills up my spine thinking about the number of Democratic women who vote for her because she is "one of them."