Legal Ethics

DOJ Investigating Federal Judge in Sexual Harassment Case

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A federal judge who was suspended for four months in September for allegedly sexually harassing a female employee is now reportedly being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

However, Dick DeGuerin, a high-profile Houston defense lawyer representing U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, says his client is cooperating and expects to be exonerated, reports the Associated Press. Kent also has met with FBI agents to discuss the accusations against him, says DeGuerin, and “is confident he didn’t break any laws and that a fair investigation will show that.”

As discussed in a prior ABAJournal.com post, Rusty Hardin, another high-profile Houston lawyer who represents the employee, former case manager Cathy McBroom, is seeking Kent’s impeachment as a federal judge.

Hardin reportedly contends that witness interviews he has turned over to the DOJ suggest that Kent has behaved inappropriately with women ever since he became a federal judge in Galveston, Texas, in the early 1990s.

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