5th Circuit Court
Lawyer Seeks Criminal Investigation of U.S. Judge for Sex Harassment
Posted Nov 27, 2007, 08:33 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The lawyer for a woman who has accused U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of sexual harassment is asking a federal appeals council to consider referring the matter to a body that has the power to recommend impeachment.
Kent was reprimanded in September after the complaint of former case manager Cathy McBroom. The Judicial Council of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave no details of the harassment.
Lawyer Rusty Hardin says he has uncovered information from interviews with 20 people that he will also turn over to the U.S. Justice Department for a possible criminal investigation, the Houston Chronicle reports. He is asking the judicial council to refer the matter to the Judicial Conference of the United States, which has the power to recommend impeachment.
Hardin says the interviews suggest Kent acted inappropriately with women since he became a federal judge in Galveston in the early 1990s, the Galveston County Daily News reports. He says 5th Circuit investigators had talked to only about half the 20 witnesses.
McBroom’s mother and friends claim Kent inappropriately touched McBroom in a March incident after he asked her for a hug in his office, the articles say.
A hat tip to How Appealing, which posted the stories.
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