Judges Reap What They Sowed
By Houston Criminal Defense Attorney John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair
There may be no Hero to the rescue in this dark drama hanging over the state and federal judiciaries in South Texas. The clouds in the horizon are as ominous as those that preceded Hurricane Ike last September. A sitting federal judge, the Honorable Samuel Kent who formerly oversaw maritime law cases for the past seventeen years in Galveston, was facing trial in a Houston federal district court on federal sex crime charges. The local media was reporting that attorneys who regularly practiced before Judge Kent were following the case with utter amazement and, we suspect, a near morbid fascination.
According to media reports, Judge Kent dominated proceedings before him with a harsh gavel and was known for what the Houston Chronicle called “biting written opinions.” Life indeed has a peculiar knack for turning things topsy-turvy. So it was with Judge Kent who found himself facing trial on five sexual abuse charges involving two former employees and one charge of lying to a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judicial commission assigned to investigate the sexual abuse allegations.
Represented by the preeminent Houston criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, Judge Kent had been vociferous in his protestations of innocence during pre-trial court proceedings. Through a number of pre-trial pleadings, DeGuerin indicated a series of seemingly conflicting defenses: 1) the employees consented, 2) the judge suffers from erectile dysfunction, and 3) the judge is so consumed by such a powerful ego that he may not have been able to discern if the employees actually consented to alleged sexual advances he made towards them.
A recent Chronicle article about the Kent case quoted Arthur Hellman, a University of Pittsburgh expert on federal judicial discipline: “This is unprecedented,” Hellman said, pointing out that a few other federal judges have faced criminal trials involving “money and corruption” issues but none for sex offenses. (more…)
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