The case against Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan will move forward following a federal court ruling.
Dugan faces criminal charges after federal prosecutors said she helped a man evade immigration agents by leading him through a side door of her courtroom in April.
In May, a grand jury determined there was enough evidence to indict her on charges of obstructing or impeding a proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.
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On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected a motion from Dugan’s attorneys to dismiss the case. In doing so, he accepted a recommendation from a magistrate judge, who opined that questions in the case remained unresolved and should be decided at trial.
“While we’re disappointed by this decision, we look forward to the trial which will show Judge Dugan did nothing wrong and simply treated this case like any other in front of her courtroom,” Dugan’s attorneys said in a statement on Tuesday.
Adelman’s decision to deny the dismissal could be appealed.
Dugan’s attorneys have accused federal prosecutors of overstepping their constitutional authority by interfering with a state-level judge.
They also argued that the concept of judicial immunity protects judges from undertaking official acts related to their judicial office. That includes a judge’s ability to run her own courtroom, they argued.
But federal prosecutors argued Dugan had committed a crime by impeding federal law enforcement, and they said the concept of judicial immunity does not apply to judges who break criminal law.
In his ruling this week, Adelman concluded that the concept of judicial immunity wasn’t broad enough to stop the case against Dugan from proceeding.
“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job,’” he wrote. “Even if a more limited version of judicial immunity exists, it does not support dismissal of the instant indictment.”
Lawyers for both sides are set to appear in court next week for a scheduling hearing on Sept. 3.
Last week, Milwaukee Police released body camera footage in which Dugan discussed the burgeoning controversy.
The interview with Milwaukee Police happened in the days between the April 18 incident in her courtroom and Dugan’s arrest on April 25 following a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. Dugan had contacted the Milwaukee Police Department to report apparent threats against her and her family.
In that conversation, Dugan mentioned that she’d been receiving increased media attention after an incident involving an immigrant who appeared in her courtroom. Dugan also told the police officer that it became of a topic of discussion on conservative talk radio.
“It’s all lies, but he’s stirring the pot,” Dugan said in the body cam video. “What I’m worried about is just the wackos that will believe this story, which is not true. I’m not being investigated by the feds, the FBI was not there. You know, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was there.”
According to prosecutors, Dugan became visibly upset when a team of federal agents showed up in her courtroom on April 18, and said they had an administrative warrant to arrest a man named Eduardo Flores-Ruiz. Flores-Ruiz had been scheduled to appear in Dugan’s courtroom that day on misdemeanor battery charges.
Dugan sent the agents to the county’s chief judge’s office, and after some of the officers left her courtroom, she directed Flores-Ruiz and his attorney through a side door, court records say. At the time, she told Flores-Ruiz and his attorney that his hearing would be rescheduled for a later date, according to court records.
That side door led to a public hallway within the courthouse. After Flores-Ruiz left the building, agents later arrested him outside after chasing him on foot.
In her conversation with a Milwaukee police officer, Dugan emphasized that, contrary to reports on talk radio, she did not “hide” Flores-Ruiz in a jury room.
“I did not hide this migrant in the jury room or in my chambers,” Dugan said. ‘I had them leave out the back door, which I do when the circumstances warrant it.”
The judge also said that she hadn’t given Flores-Ruiz special treatment.
“I don’t know if he’s an illegal immigrant, which is what they’re claiming,” Dugan told police. “I’m not supposed to know that when they come in front of me.”
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