Dugan verdict sends message to judges
Defense team appealing after conviction in WI
By: John Diedrich
and Hope Karnopp
MILWAUKEE - The guilty verdict against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is sparking debate among lawyers and legal scholars.
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Some are applauding what they see as accountability for a law-braking judge. Others don't think Dugan did anything wrong or illegal. Still others believe she overstepped, but it didn't merit federal prosecution.
..... They all, however, agree on one thing: Judges everywhere have taken notice.
..... "I guarantee sitting judges, not only the ones in this area, but across the country, are aware of this case," said Mel Johnson, a former federal prosecutor in Milwaukee.
..... "Tye know what happened and they are thinking, 'I really have something to lose here. If something like that comes up or me, I will tread very lightly.' "
..... In the split verdict December 18, [2025] a federal jury found Dugan guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents, a felony, and not guilty of hiding the man agents were seeking, a misdemeanor.
..... The four-day trial in Milwaukee was the first of tis kind in the country. A Massachusetts judge was indicted in 2019 for helping an undocumented immigrant elude agents, but that case was dismissed under the Biden administration.
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Dugan's defense team is mounting a broad appeal. It seems likely the case will end up at the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and maybe the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Nancy Gertner, a Harvard Law School professor and retired federal judge, characterized the prosecution as an outrageous overreach by federal authorities. She predicts the conviction will not stand.
..... "This is a weak prosecutions," said Gertner, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton. "You are talking about a judge doing things that she has a right to do."
..... victor Hansen, a professor at New England Law School, saw it was an unfortunate case, but said Dugan exposed herself to charges.
..... "It was criminal," Hansen said. "[Prosecutors] felt compelled to send some kind of a message to court officials to judges, to others, that you have some power in your courtroom, but your power is not unlimited, and you have an obligation, to comply with the law just like everybody else does."
..... Dugan's team will ask U. S District Judge Lynn Adelman to overturn the jury's verdict, a rare but not unprecedented move. Adelman, who earlier rejected the defense's judicial immunity claim to dismiss the whole case, is expected to rule on a motion to set aside the jury verdict in March. [2026]
..... Dugan, 66, a judge for none years, faces up to five years in prison, but it is unlikely she will get time behind bars.
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For a defendant with no criminal history who is convicted of a nonviolent crime, federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation. Adelman is known for giving sentences below the guidelines.
..... Dugan has remained out of custody since her arrest in April 2025. She has been suspended form the bench, with pay, throughout the case.
..... Republicans have launched an effort to impeach her.
..... Dugan was charged with trying to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, elude a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement team on April 18, 2025.
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Flores-Ruiz, 31, was appearing before Dugan on misdemeanor battery charges. He had illegally reentered the United States after being deported in 2013. Six agents were waiting in the hallway to arrest him after his appearance before Dugan.
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Dugan and another judge went into the hallway, questioned the agents and directed them to the chief judge's office. Dugan returned to her courtroom, called Flores-Ruiz's case and then led him and his lawyer into a hallway reserved for staff and jurors.
..... According to an audio recording from court that day, Dugan's court reporter offered to show the pair out the private hallway, but Dugan responded, "I'll do it. I'll get the heat."
..... Flores-Ruiz and his attorney emerged in the main corridor. two agents followed and arrested Flores-Ruiz outside after a short foot chase. Dugan herself was arrested at the courthouse bu FBI agents a week later, led out in handcuffs.
..... At trial, prosecutors played video and audio called 19 witnesses - including federal agents, other judges and to create a picture of a judge who didn't like ICE and set out to thwart them.
.... Dugan's team sought to poke holes in the government's witnesses and highlighted confusion among judges aorta a draft courthouse policy about how to handle such arrests.
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During deliberations, jurors asked if Dugan needed to know the identity of the person the agents were seeking to be convicted.
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Adelman's answers differed for the two charges: Yes, she did need to know for the concealment charges. No, she did not need to know for the obstruction charge.
..... The jury acquired on the concealment count and found her guilty of obstruction.
..... A juror who spoke to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter said she thinks the jury would have acquitted on both if the answer was the same.
..... Those answers will be featured in Dugan's appeal. Steve Biskupic, her lead lawyer, told the Journal Sentinel. "The verdict encompasses he problem with how the questions were answered. Our main argument is going to be how the questions were answered," he said.
..... Michael Fox, a legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, doesn't think Dugan acted appropriately, but said a prosecution was not necessary.
..... Interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel in Milwaukee said Dugan had to be held accountable and sought to tamp down the rhetoric.
..... "Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle," Schimel said. "This case is serious for all involved, but it is ultimate about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse."
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Gertner, of Harvard, said no matter how the case resolves she expects it may embolden ICE and the administration. "The costs of this kind of prosecutions are so troubling," she said.
..... Contributing: Mary Spicuzza, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel