By Todd Richmond, Associated Press
MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Wisconsin judge argued not guilty on Thursday to have accused him of helping a man in the country illegally escape the American immigration authorities who sought to arrest him in his courthouse.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan argued during a brief indictment before the Federal Court.
Judge Magistrate Stephen Dries set a date of trial in July. Dugan’s principal lawyer Steven Biskupic told the judge that he was planning that the trial will last a week.
Dugan, his lawyers and prosecutors left after the hearing without speaking to journalists.
She is responsible for hiding an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. Prosecutors say that she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and her lawyer out of her courtroom by a rear door on April 18 after learning that American immigration and customs agents were at the courthouse seeking to arrest him to be illegally in the country. She could incur up to six years in prison if she is found guilty of the two counts.
Her lawyers say she is innocent. They filed a request Wednesday to reject the case, saying that it was acting in its official capacity as a judge and that it is therefore safe from prosecution. They also maintain the federal government violated the sovereignty of the state of the Wisconsin by disturbing a state courtroom and pursuing a state judge.
Dugan’s arrest increased a confrontation between the Trump administration and the Democrats for the president’s repression of the president.
Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing on Thursday, with certain signs that read, “only the fascists stop judges – abandon the accusations”, “over -appreach of the Ministry of Justice” and “Keep your hands from our judges !!” The crowd chanted the “rights of the regular procedure”, “maintains our freedom” and “so stubborn” – the Spaniard for “yes, we can” – which is a rallying cry for defenders of the rights of immigrants.
A man stood alone on the other side of the street holding a Trump flag.
According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz returned to the United States illegally after being expelled in 2013. Online legal files show that he was accused of three domestic leaders in Milwaukee County in March, and he was in Dugan’s courtroom on April 18 for an audience in this case.
According to an Affidavit of the FBI, Dugan was alerted to the presence of agents by his clerk, who was informed by a lawyer that the agents seemed to be in the corridor. Dugan was visibly angry and called the “absurd” situation before leaving the bench and retiring in his rooms, affirms the Affidavit. She and another judge later approached members of the arrest team at the courthouse with what witnesses described as a “conflictual and angry behavior”.
After a back and forth with the agents on the mandate of Flores-Ruiz, Dugan demanded that they speak with the chief judge and led them from the courtroom, according to the Affidavit.
After his return to the courtroom, witnesses heard her say something to “wait, come with me” before satisfying Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer by a door generally used only by deputies, jurors, judicial staff and derivative defendants, the Affidavit claims. Flores-Ruiz was free on a signing deposit in the abuse case, according to online state judicial files. The federal agents finally owned him outside the courthouse after a prosecution on foot.
The Supreme Court of the State suspended Dugan last week, claiming that this decision was necessary to preserve the public’s confidence in the judiciary. She was released after her arrest.
John Vaudreuil, a former Wisconsin federal prosecutor who is not involved in the cases of Dugan or Flores-Ruiz, said that the Trump administration seems to want to make an example of Dugan. US prosecutor General Pam Bondi or Deputy Prosecutor General Todd Blanche, rather than the American prosecutor of Milwaukee, probably makes decisions about how to proceed, making prosecutors less likely to reduce the charges against Dugan in an agreement, he said.
His lawyers will probably try to push the case to a trial with jury, said Vaudreuil, because they know that “people feel very strongly on how the president and the administration carry out an immigration policy”.
The writer Associated Press Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
Originally published:
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