Convicted federal judge submits resignation letter

HOUSTON — A convicted federal judge told the president Tuesday he would resign from the bench in June 2010, nearly a year after he enters prison for lying about sexually abusing two assistants.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent would draw a full salary of $174,000 a year and benefits until the resignation takes effect, said his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin. Kent decided on the delay so his wife, who has a brain tumor and other serious medical problems, could retain health benefits, DeGuerin said.

The resignation was submitted a week after denial of Kent’s request to retire on disability due to depression — which would have allowed him to continue receiving his full salary for the rest of his life. By resigning, he gets nothing after next year.

Kent, 59, is resigning to try and avoid the “spectacle” of an impeachment process by Congress, DeGuerin said. The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, and both women he victimized are scheduled to speak.

“Judge Kent’s own actions continue to prove that he is unworthy of public service,” said U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, the ranking Republican on the committee. “This is an outrageous abuse of authority and defies the very principles of justice Judge Kent swore to uphold.”

According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, there is no procedure to reject a federal judge’s resignation notice. The only way a federal judge can be removed is through impeachment.

Kent was invited to speak at the hearing as well, but will not attend. DeGuerin said there is no reason to continue with the impeachment. “He’s been completely defeated,” DeGuerin said.

Last month, Kent was sentenced to 33 months in prison, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $6,550 in restitution to his former secretary and his case manager, whose complaints resulted in the first sex abuse case against a sitting federal judge. As part of a plea deal, Kent admitted he tried to force the case manager into unwanted sex acts in August 2003 and March 2007, and did the same with his secretary from 2004 through at least 2005.

Kent is set to report to prison June 15.

Associated Press writer Suzanne Gamboa in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.