A federal magistrate judge has delivered a blow to Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s argument that she is immune from prosecution, recommending that the court deny her motion to have the case tossed out.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph issued the recommendation on Monday, July 7, which a trial judge will review before making a final decision.
Dugan, 66, was arrested by FBI agents in April at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, accused of deliberately helping an illegal immigrant evade federal agents.
Dugan is charged with obstruction of justice and concealing a person to prevent arrest. She faces up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted on both counts.
Dugan has pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to have the charges dropped, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge. She also claims that the federal government violated Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge, Fox News Digital reported.
“Whether Dugan violated these statutes as the government accuses, or whether she was merely performing her judicial duties as Dugan asserts, these are questions for a jury that cannot be resolved on a motion to dismiss,” Joseph wrote in a 37-page report.
In the ruling, Joseph said judges have immunity from civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages when engaging in judicial acts, but this immunity does not apply in criminal cases.
“A judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, do not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law,” Joseph wrote, adding that the ruling does not address the merits of the charges.
“Dugan disputes the government’s version of events, and the government will have the burden of proving its allegations beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” Joseph wrote. “However, these contested facts cannot be resolved at this juncture.”
Joseph agreed that Dugan has the authority to conduct judicial proceedings in her courtroom as she sees fit. The magistrate judge also said that authority does not shield Dugan from the “corruption” accusations.
“In my view, this is consistent with the cases where judges were prosecuted for performing official acts that were intertwined with bribery or extortion — even where judges are acting in their official role, when the judicial acts violate criminal law, judicial immunity does not bar prosecution,” Joseph wrote.
Joseph’s report will be forwarded to U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, a progressive Bill Clinton appointee and the trial judge who will make the final decision on the motion to dismiss. In federal court, magistrate judges handle a range of preliminary matters but do not make final rulings on dispositive motions.
On June 18, Adelman took the July 21 trial date off the calendar pending the conclusion of the motion to dismiss, foreseeing that the decision was likely to be appealed, Courthouse News Service reported.
Dugan’s lawyers filed a memorandum on May 29 arguing her federal prosecution is improper, violating the 10th Amendment and amounting to federal overreach.
In a motion to dismiss, Dugan claimed judicial immunity, citing its long history since the inception of the U.S., and the many tests to that commitment, Courthouse News Service reported.
Federal prosecutors countered that the judicial immunity argument is flawed and unsupported by legal precedent, adding that Dugan is “not above the law,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Dugan’s obstruction charges stem from an allegation that she helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, a previously deported Mexican national, evade federal agents on April 18. Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear in front of Dugan for a pre-trial hearing related to local battery charges for allegedly beating up two people.
“[He] beat the guy, hit the guy 30 times, knocked him to the ground, choked him, beat up a woman so badly, they both had to go to the hospital,” Attorney General Pam Bondi previously told reporters.
Prosecutors allege Dugan interfered with agents there to make an arrest by falsely informing them that they needed a judicial warrant to do so. She also allegedly escorted Flores-Ruiz through a side door and advised his counsel that he could appear by Zoom for his next court date, Courthouse News Service reported.
In May, a grand jury in Wisconsin indicted her on charges of obstruction and intentionally concealing an individual set for deportation.
Dugan has hired a powerhouse legal defense team, including attorney Jason Luczak, who previously told reporters that evidence will show Dugan did not lead Flores-Ruiz through a private door so that he could escape.
“This is only one step in what we expect will be a long journey to preserve the independence and integrity of our courts,” Dugan attorney Steven Biskupic said.
Her defense team has tapped former Bush-era solicitor general Paul Clement to represent her. Clement, who was also on President Donald Trump’s short list of Supreme Court nominees during his first term, is a well-respected litigator who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court, Fox News Digital reported.
Video footage that WISN obtained through an open records request shows the hallway outside of Dugan’s courtroom. The video shows Dugan in her black robe confronting the officers, leading them to the chief judge’s office at the end of the hall and then re-entering her courtroom.
Moments later, Flores-Ruiz and his attorney can be seen exiting the courtroom into the same public hallway and walking toward the public elevators. Federal agents arrested Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse after a short foot chase.
