Embattled U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent of Galveston (previous posts here) is battening down the hatches with an addition to his defense team — prominent Houston-based criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin.
This John Council/Brenda Sapino Jeffreys/Texas Lawyer article reports that DeGuerin gave the following response when asked why Judge Kent hired him: “When Rusty Hardin became involved and started saying a crime had been committed . . . it became obvious that he [Kent] needed some advice about that.” In this related Lise Olsen/Chronicle story, Hardin shot back: “That guy should not be a federal judge. To me, that’s the bottom line. Judge Kent has hired an excellent lawyer and it’s a good thing ó he needs one.”
Council and Jeffreys also report that the prospect of a criminal prosecution of Judge Kent appears to be heating up:

U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent ó who has hired Houston criminal-defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin ó met with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Nov. 30 to discuss allegations that he sexually harassed a court employee. [. . .]
DeGuerin says Kent, on his own, “solicited the interview” with the FBI, answered all of the agents’ questions and agreed to further interviews if requested. DeGuerin says he did not sit in on Kent’s interview with the FBI.
DeGuerin says Kent told him about his interview with the FBI “right after it was done. . . . He called an FBI agent that he knew. He [the FBI agent] contacted another FBI agent that he knew and they interviewed him.” DeGuerin adds, “I think he [Kent] did the right thing. I think it strengthens his position that he’s had all along. Maybe he’s done some things that are a little embarrassing, but he’s done nothing wrong.”
“Of course the FBI agents don’t let on what they’re thinking when they interview witnesses,” DeGuerin says. “But he felt like they asked all of the right questions.”

The article goes on to report that Hardin, the attorney for Cathy McBroom (one of the complainants against Judge Kent), continues to call for a criminal investigation of the Judge by the Department of Justice (see earlier post here). Judge Kent returns to the U.S. District Court bench from his Fifth Circuit Judicial Council-imposed four month suspension after the first of the year.
By the way, as difficult as Judge Kent’s case appears to be at this point, it’s a piece of cake compared to DeGuerin’s other recent Galveston case.

The NY Times’ Michael Powell reviews how Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani made a name for himself prosecuting criminals in New York City. Of course, part of that popular legacy is Giuliani’s highly-publicized prosecution of Michael Milken and the related destruction of Drexel Burnham Lambert.
Not mentioned in the article is Giuliani’s prosecution of Lisa Jones, which reveals far more about Giuliani’s true character than what is presented in the NY Times puff piece.
Larry Ribstein and John Carney have typically insightful comments on the Times article, too.

The brutal nature of punishment in the United States has been a common topic on this blog (see previous posts here, here and here). Along those lines, this Human Rights Watch press release reports that the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country:

Statistics released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a branch of the US Department of Justice, show that at the end of 2006, more than 2.25 million persons were incarcerated in US prisons and jails, an all-time high. This number represents an incarceration rate of 751 per 100,000 US residents, the highest such rate in the world. By contrast, the United Kingdomís incarceration rate is 148 per 100,000 residents; the rate in Canada is 107; and in France it is 85. The US rate is also substantially higher than that of Libya (217 per 100,000), Iran (212), and China (119).


ìThese figures confirm an unenviable record: the United States is the worldís leading prison nation,î said David Fathi, director of the US program at Human Rights Watch. ìAmericans should ask why the US locks up so many more of its citizens than do Canada, Britain, and other democratic countries. The US is even ahead of governments like China that use prisons as a political tool.î


The US prison population has increased approximately 500 percent in the last 30 years, and continues to grow. The 2006 increase was the largest one-year jump in the last six years. The per capita incarceration rate has also increased steadily, from 684 per 100,000 residents in 2000 to 751 per 100,000 in 2006.


The new BJS figures also show sharp racial disparities in US incarceration rates, with black men incarcerated at a rate 6.2 times higher than white men. Nearly 8 percent of all black men ages 30 to 34 in the United States were incarcerated as sentenced prisoners at the end of 2006.

So, as we consider the chronically deficient and overcrowded nature of the Harris County Jail locally (see also here), do you think it’s about time that we begin to consider alternative criminal justice policies than simply throwing people in prison and throwing away the key?
Update: Sentencing expert Doug Berman provides more insight.

Previous posts here, here and here reported on the Dallas SWAT team’s dangerous and absurdly over-the-top campaign over the past year to terrorize participants in private poker games.
Now, Reason.TV has produced the video below with Drew Carey narrating about Dallas SWAT’s latest debacle — raiding a regular poker game at a local VFW Hall in Dallas. This is certificable proof that Dallas SWAT does not have enough work to stay busy. H/T Radley Balko.

Mississippi plaintiff’s lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has been the subject of a couple of previous posts (here, here and here) regarding the detrimental impact that his litigation approach is having on his home state’s insurance markets.
Detrimental impact on insurance markets is one thing. But an indictment alleging bribery of a judge is another level of trouble altogether. Walter Olson’s Overlawyered is the go-to site for information on the Dickie Scruggs affair, with posts here, here and here linking to news reports and blog posts in the first week after the indictment. Don’t miss Walter’s coverage. It’s first rate.

This Brenda Sapino Jeffreys/John Council/Texas Lawyer ($) article reports that an unnamed source close to the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council’s investigation of Galveston-based U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent (previous posts here) has disclosed that the Department of Justice has issued a subpoena to the council demanding turnover of transcripts and documents related to the council’s investigation:

The person close to Kent’s disciplinary matter says last week the 5th Circuit Judicial Council was considering whether to honor a subpoena from the DOJ asking for transcripts and documents related to Kent’s disciplinary action. The council’s decision on whether to honor the DOJ subpoena may indicate how it will vote on McBroom’s request to forward the Kent matter to the Judicial Conference. [. . .]
The person close to Kent’s disciplinary matter says the following: The 19-member 5th Circuit Judicial Council has between 300 and 400 documents and depositions related to Kent’s disciplinary matter. Some judges on the council are taking the position that the proceedings are confidential and the documents should not be released to the DOJ. But other judges believe the documents should be released to prosecutors, because the information may become part of a federal grand jury proceeding ó a process that is secret. However, the person believes that some information will be released to the DOJ.
The Judicial Council’s vote to issue the September order admonishing Kent was not unanimous; some of the judges believed the punishment was not harsh enough and that the order did not adequately describe Kent’s alleged conduct, says the person close to the Kent matter.
While [former courtroom deputy Cathy] McBroom’s initial complaint filed with the Judicial Council contained “vague” allegations of sexual harassment, some judges on the council became alarmed after reading about more serious allegations relayed by McBroom’s family and friends in the Houston Chronicle article after the Judicial Council released its September disciplinary order, says the person close to Kent’s disciplinary matter. “The more serious allegations that have come out in the press, [Judicial Council] members have said, “I don’t remember that,’ ” says the person close to Kent’s disciplinary matter.

This is getting more interesting each week. Now it is looking as if a federal grand jury may very well be investigating Judge Kent when his suspension expires and he takes his new place on the bench among Houston federal judges come the first week in January. That will make for some interesting federal courthouse elevator conversations.

Tim Harford passes along some interesting data on the economic impact of hiring a lawyer in connection with a divorce:

The Austrian economist Martin Halla has collected data from divorce proceedings in his home country, and he finds a curious pattern. Husbands end up paying the smallest alimony when no lawyers are involved. If the husband hires a lawyer, but his wife does not, the alimony payment rises (and then there are fees to be paid, too). If the wife hires a lawyer, or the couple hires a joint lawyer, the husband forks out still more. Worst case scenario for hubby is if both sides hire their own lawyer. On top of that the proceedings are longer and more expensive.

One of the funniest war stories about attorneys’ fees that I’ve ever heard involved a couple of old Houston litigators fighting over a divorce estate. Remind me to pass it along when we bump into each other.