[Vision2020] CNN - House impeaches Texas judge accused of sex crimes

[bear at moscow.com]

The trial should be interesting.





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> House impeaches Texas judge accused of sex crimes
>
>
> The House of Representatives voted Friday to impeach a federal judge
> convicted of obstruction of justice while in office.
>
> U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Texas pleaded guilty in February,
> 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 was 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.
>
> That drew a heated response among some 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, who turns 60 this month, was sentenced in May to 33 months in prison
> and began serving the sentence Monday. He was ordered to undergo treatment
> for alcoholism while in prison.
>
> An attempt to reach Kent's attorney for comment was unsuccessful Friday
> afternoon.
>
> 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 -- on
> charges of lying to a federal grand jury -- was of Mississippi Judge
> Walter Nixon in 1989.
>
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