Lawyer Kept License After Civil Judgment in Child Sex Assault Case

Updated: A Houston lawyer recently arrested on child pornography charges had kept his law license despite a civil judgment against him for an alleged sexual assault of a child, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Warren Reid Williamson entered a not guilty plea yesterday to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. He was accused in a federal indictment of buying memberships to visit child pornography sites and downloading images of child porn, according to a press release.

Williamson had previously entered pleas to lesser charges in two criminal cases, the newspaper says. One was a road rage case, the Chronicle story says. The other involved accusations that he sexually assaulted a 7-year-old neighbor. The child won a $4.75 million civil judgment against Williamson, the Bellaire Examiner reports.

Williamson, a former lawyer for Conoco, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in the sexual assault case with the approval of the victim's family, who didn't want their child to experience the trauma of a criminal trial, according to the Bellaire Examiner.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Calvin Botley denied bail yesterday. Prosecutors had said Williamson posted a flight risk because he has an inheritance that gives him the financial means to disappear.

Updated at 10:31 a.m. to include information from the Bellaire Examiner.