The Kentucky Supreme Court, by a vote of 4-3, on Thursday opined that former Kenton County Family Court Judge Dawn Gentry is suspended from the practice of law for four years.
Gentry was removed from the bench in Kenton County’s Circuit Court Fifth Division following a review in 2020 by the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission. She was appointed to the seat in 2016 by then-Governor Matt Bevin, and then won election to her own term in 2018.
Following her removal, she opened a private law practice in Newport, but according to state records, moved to dissolve that operation in March.
In the background on the case offered by the Supreme Court in its opinion, the court wrote, “In 2018, Gentry sought election to keep her seat on the Kenton Circuit Court. Leading up to that election, she coerced members of the Guardian Ad Litem panel to donate the maximum amount to her campaign, as well as to participate in her election efforts during working hours. Gentry directed her staff attorney to place and deliver campaign signs. She also required her case management specialist/mediator to write thank-you notes for the campaign and publicly hold a campaign sign on Election Day. Gentry then attempted to conceal the above conduct.”
Gentry also approved false time sheets for employees, including one with whom she had a romantic relationship.
Additionally, Gentry lied under oath about the romantic relationship during the investigation by the Judicial Conduct Commission.
The opinion on Thursday was prompted by the Kentucky Bar Association’s own investigation into Gentry for her breaches of conduct as an attorney rather than as a judge, the opinion reads.
According to the opinion, “Gentry has expressed deep regret for her actions,” and stated that her violations were due in large part to alcohol and manipulation by the employee with whom she was involved in a romantic relationship.
According to the state Supreme Court’s decision, Gentry and the Kentucky Bar Association agreed to the four-year suspension.
Chief Justice John Minton and Justices Michelle Keller and Christopher Shea Nickell concurred in the opinion with Justice Lisabeth Hughes also agreeing with the four-year suspension, but separately saying that she would have probated the suspension for three years.
Justice Debra Hembree Lambert dissented, arguing that there was no need for further sanctions against Gentry.
“Gentry’s removal from the bench and the subsequent steps she took to correct her behavior have fully served the public-protecting goals of imposing lawyer sanctions,” Labert wrote in part. “All of the misconduct that the KBA seeks to sanction was either a misuse of Gentry’s power as a judge, or a misguided attempt to keep her position as a judge after the JCC initiated its investigation.”
Lambert was joined in her dissent by Justices Robert B. Conley and Laurance B. VanMeter.
Judge Acena Beck was appointed to Gentry’s former seat in the court by Governor Andy Beshear last year.