U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Texas Impeached By House-Because of Sexual Crimes

U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Texas Impeached By House-Because of Sexual Crimes. By House, meaning of course, The House of Representatives. They voted Friday, June19th, 2009 to impeach U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent, who was convicted of obstruction of justice while in office.

Samuel B. Kent of Texas pleaded guilty in February of 2009, admitting he lied to investigators about nonconsensual sexual contact with two employees in his courthouse. As part of a plea agreement, other counts alleging sexual misconduct were dropped.

Kent get the honor of being the first federal judge to be charged with sexual crimes while in office.

He has submitted his resignation, but made it effective June 1, 2010, meaning he would be paid for a year while in prison.

WHO SAID THERE WAS NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD???

That drew a heated response among some Texas members of Congress, and a House Judiciary Committee task force unanimously approved four articles of impeachment against Kent on the grounds of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and providing false statements to federal investigators.

Before the House vote, Judiciary Committee member Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, said to House members that Kent collecting a salary of about $174,000 while in prison constituted “an attempt to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from the American people.”

There were no dissenting votes.

The decision on whether to convict Kent will be made by the Senate. A conviction would mean he would lose his seat on the federal bench and his pension.

Kent, will turn 60 this month. He was sentenced in May, 2009, to 33 months in Texas prison and began serving the sentence Monday, June 15th, 2009. He was also ordered to undergo treatment for alcoholism while he is in prison.

I lived and worked in the Houston-Galveston area from 1991-1995 and it was common knowledge about Judge Kent. He was called, “The King.” If you were a woman and went through his court, your chances where a lot better than if you were a man.

President George H.W. Bush nominated Kent, who took his seat on the bench of the Southern District of Texas on October 1, 1990. Kent is the 14th federal judge to be impeached by the House. The last impeachment were on charges of lying to a federal grand jury, with Mississippi Judge Walter Nixon in 1989.

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