Cathy McBroom, target of sexual abuse by former Judge Samuel B. Kent, returning to Galveston with a promotion

The last time we heard from Cathy McBroom (pictured at left with lawyer Rusty Hardin) was in June when she was testifying before a congressional panel about the repeated sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of former U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent of Galveston; the panel was investigating Kent’s impeachment. The disgraced jurist is currently serving a 33-month prison sentence for obstruction of justice and reluctantly resigned his post after that hearing, making his impeachment unnecessary. Since that time, life has gotten better for Kent’s former case manager. McBroom was transferred to the Houston Division in 2007 — the same year she filed a complaint with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals about Kent’s behavior. Now she’s heading back to Galveston for a happy occasion: a big promotion. McBroom will now be the deputy clerk in charge of the Galveston Division, where she also will serve as U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt’s case manager. Hoyt, who is based in Houston, is now responsible for the Galveston Division’s docket. “It was just wonderful news. I’m just so anxious to go back to Galveston, and going back in that capacity is an added bonus,” says McBroom, who is currently working for U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes and learned of her promotion on Thursday, Nov. 5. There are certainly bad memories in the Galveston courthouse for McBroom, she says. But justice was done to Kent, and she’ll enter the building “with a renewed attitude and an optimistic attitude.” She’ll be there for Hoyt’s first docket call in Galveston on Nov. 16, she says. As for Kent, he was transferred from a federal prison in Massachusetts on Sept. 23 to a state prison in Florida for safety reasons, says Gretl Plessinger, communications director for the Florida Department of Corrections. “The federal prison system asked us to take him for protective reasons, because it is my understanding that he is a federal judge,” Plessinger says. Kent is now serving his sentence in an undisclosed state prison, she says. Kent’s whereabouts are a secret “for not only his safety, but obviously the safety of the prison system.”
-- John Council