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Defense attorneys and prosecutors were appointed Thursday to select jurors who will decide whether wisconsin accused of helping the judge mexican The immigrant committed a crime by eluding federal authorities.
Federal prosecutors this spring charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction and concealing a person to prevent arrest. They allege he forced 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz out of his courtroom through the back door when he learned federal authorities were looking to arrest him.
Dugan’s trial is scheduled to begin Monday in the latest show of force in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. If convicted on both counts, he faces up to six years in prison.
Here’s what you need to know about the case, jury selection and the trial:
FBI: Angry Dugan attempted to flee
According to an FBI affidavit, Flores-Ruiz re-entered the United States illegally from Mexico in 2013. Agents learned he had been charged with battery in state court in March and was scheduled to appear before Dugan on April 18.
After the hearing, agents headed to the courthouse to arrest Flores-Ruiz. A public defender saw the agents in the hallway and told Dugan’s clerk about them. According to the affidavit, Dugan became angry, declared the situation “absurd” and contacted another judge. Dugan argued with the agents over whether their warrant was valid and asked them to speak to the Chief Justice.
The affidavit says Dugan returned to her courtroom, asked Flores-Ruiz to come with her and escorted her and her attorney out the back jury door into the public corridor outside the courtroom. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz as he was returning from the Chief Justice’s office, but he passed out. He was eventually caught after a chase. The US Department of Homeland Security announced in November that he had been deported.
Dugan’s defenders are scrutinizing the jury pool for bias.
democrats insist on president donald trumpThe administration is trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to its immigration action.
The administration, for its part, has been condemning Dugan on social media. FBI Director Kash Patel A photo of him being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs was posted, and the Department of Homeland Security posted that Dugan had taken the term activist judge “to a whole new meaning.”
Dugan told police that four days after Flores-Ruiz was captured he found threatening flyers from an anti-government group at his home and the homes of his mother and sister.
Dugan’s attorneys have said they are concerned that publicity about the case has tainted the jury pool. They sent potential jurors a questionnaire in an attempt to gauge their political involvement and leanings, asking whether they belonged to political organizations, what radio shows and podcasts they follow, and what stickers, signs, and patches they had on their cars, water bottles, backpacks, and laptops.
Online court records show attorneys for both sides have already agreed to dismiss 44 potential jurors. A group of 40 potential jurors were scheduled to appear in federal court in Milwaukee Thursday morning and fill out another questionnaire asking whether their views had changed since completing the first survey. The lawyers plan to spend the day interrogating him personally.
Attorneys are prepared to bring in more potential jurors Friday if necessary.
Immunity and protocol questions
Dugan’s defense team has argued that she has immunity from prosecution because she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore had “no consciousness of wrongdoing, no wrongdoing, no fraud”, according to her filing.
Her lawyers tried to persuade Presiding Judge Lynn Edelman to dismiss the case on those grounds in August. The judge refused, stating that there was no firmly established judicial immunity except from criminal prosecution.
Dugan has also argued that she was following protocol and did not intend to obstruct the agents. Following their arguments, Milwaukee County Chief Judge Carl Ashley sent a draft policy on immigration arrests to the court about a week before Flores-Ruiz’s arrest. The policy prohibited agents from executing administrative warrants in non-public court areas and required court personnel to immediately refer any immigration agent to a supervisor, which Dugan did.
Dugan further argued that Ashley refused to allow agents to arrest Flores-Ruiz in the courtroom or hallway. According to Dugan, the agents abandoned their plan to arrest him in the building and instead followed him outside so they could arrest him on the street.
“(Dugan) was trying to figure out the rules and follow them,” her lawyers argued before trial.
Under federal guidance issued Jan. 21, immigration agents can conduct enforcement actions in or near courthouses if they believe the person they are trying to find will be there.
Immigration agents are generally required to notify their in-house legal office ahead of time to ensure there are no legal restrictions, and to make arrests in non-public areas whenever possible, coordinating with court security and minimizing the impact on court operations.
Bill Clinton Appointed judge to preside over case
Then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, appointed Edelman to the federal bench in 1997. A native of Wisconsin, he served as a state senator for 20 years. He also worked as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Wisconsin and a researcher at Columbia University Law School. He is now 86 years old.
He repealed Wisconsin’s voter photo ID law in 2014, calling it an unfair burden on poor and minority voters. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the law later that year.
Edelman also wrote an article in 2020 that accused the US Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts of subverting democracy.