Grand Jury Indicts Judge Hannah Dugan

Hannah Dugan is the Wisconsin judge who was arrested by the FBI last month after (allegedly) interfering with ICE agents who were present in the public part of the courthouse to make an arrest of a criminal illegal alien. Today she was indicted on two counts by a federal grand jury.

The Wisconsin judge arrested last month and accused of helping an undocumented immigrant evade federal agents was indicted by a federal grand jury on Tuesday on charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.

The indictment of the judge, Hannah C. Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, was a routine but significant step in the Justice Department’s case against her. The Trump administration has defended the prosecution as a warning that no one is above the law, while many Democrats, lawyers and former judges have denounced it as an assault on the judiciary.

Fox News has more on the testimony today at the courthouse where the grand jury was meeting.

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury convened to consider the indictment, hearing testimony that included statements from Eduardo Flores-Ruiz’s attorney, who has since withdrawn from his case, and Dugan’s court clerk.

Also giving testimony was Milwaukee County Judge Kristela Cervera, a misdemeanor judge whose courtroom is next to Dugan’s. The panel was expected to decide whether to indict Dugan ahead of her previously scheduled preliminary court hearing.

Dugan’s attorneys told Fox News, “As she said after her unnecessary arrest, Judge Dugan asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”

Dugan’s court clerk is one of the people likely to be a major witness for prosecutors in this case. He was present for most the actions the judge is being charged with.

In case anyone has forgotten, a team of FBI and ICE agents turned up at the Milwaukee courthouse to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal immigrant who was facing domestic abuse charges for (allegedly) beating up two men and one woman after a dispute over music. When Judge Dugan learned they were waiting outside her courtroom, she confronted them and attempted to send the agents to see the chief judge who was in his office. Then she rushed through a hearing and ushered Flores Ruiz and his attorney out a jury door not used by defendants and into another part of the main hallway. She did this in the apparent hope that ICE agents wouldn’t spot him leaving from this non-public door. Unfortunately for her there were other members of the arrest team still seated in the hallway. They spotted Flores Ruiz, followed him out of the building and, after he ran for it, chased him down and arrested him.

Judge Dugan is expected back in court on Thursday, May 15, to make a plea. 

It’s not clear if this will go all the way to trial but if it does, some observers think there’s a good chance that politics will intervene and result in some sort of jury nullification. In other words, the case against Dugan is pretty strong but that may not matter if one or two jurors decide this is a chance to thumb their noses at the Trump administration.

So we’ll soon find out how many Democrats really believe what so many of them were saying when former President Trump (prior to his re-election) was facing charges: No one is above the law. My advice is don’t hold your breath waiting for Democrats to say that about this case.