Judge Kent Finally Takes The Fall

What communications lessons can we learn from the ungainly fall of a former untouchable federal judge? After admitting to obstruction of justice yesterday in the investigation into allegations of his sexual abuse of subordinates- Its yet to be seen if Kent will spend one night in prison as he continues to be protected by such powerful peers as Senior U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson.

Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg noted in her column today that Vinson has been so concerned with protecting Kent from the powerful forces of media influence that he instated his own, unsolicited, gag order. Vinson continued enforcing the protective cloak of secrecy Monday even after the potential of jury taint was gone.

The pointless muzzle also allowed Vinson to hold private hearings in the case. Yesterday the two victims of Judge Kent were robbed of their right to have their say in public after they’d lost the opportunity to do so in the courtroom. After Kent's loud voice boomed his defense originally that he was "absolutely, 100% not guilty" and his alleged sexual contact with subordinates was "consensual", yesterday's admission of guilt could barely be heard by the court reporter

However, temporarily blinding the media's eye did not protect Judge Kent from justice. Falkenberg notes that Kent may have escaped it altogether if not for the prying persistence of the press, notably the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Olsen, Rick Casey and Harvey Rice.

The communications lesson here is that no one escapes the media glare, no matter how seemingly untouchable. If it appears your client is about to fall into this category make sure they understand sometimes it is better to say nothing then to declare their innocence, only to have it revealed later as an outright lie.