Lawyer accused of taping sex with underage girl gets probation; plea agreement bars press release
A Tennessee lawyer initially accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex and taping the encounters has been sentenced to probation in a case that made the news despite a ban on press releases.
Kent Booher, 59, of Harriman, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to statutory rape in a plea deal on Tuesday, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. He was sentenced to three years of probation and will have to be listed on Tennessee’s sex offender registry for 13 years, according to the story.
The plea agreement prohibits the District Attorney’s office from issuing a formal press release in the case, the News Sentinel says. Similar orders were issued in two other cases involving the same teen victim. A spokesperson for the DA declined to comment, citing a gag order in the case.
Booher is still licensed to practice law, but the plea agreement specifies that his record of conviction will be sent to ethics officials for possible action.
Booher was censured (PDF) in July 2014 for failing to inform a client that his appeal was denied and in July 2012 (PDF) for failing to act with reasonable diligence in an estate matter and for misrepresentations to the disciplinary counsel about documents he had filed in probate court.
