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A wisconsin accused of helping the judge Mexican The immigrant is set to present his case for evading federal authorities after his trial on obstruction and concealment charges ends.
Prosecutors dropped the case against him milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan on Wednesday after three days of testimony. Dugan’s defense attorneys said they planned to call four witnesses beginning Thursday morning. It was unclear whether Dugan would take the stand. Closing arguments could begin as early as Thursday afternoon.
The highly unusual charge against a sitting judge is an extraordinary outcome of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Duggan’s supporters say Trump is trying to make an example of him to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests.
Prosecutors have tried to show that Dugan knowingly interfered with efforts by members of the federal immigration task force to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
Task force members testified that they learned Flores-Ruiz was in the country illegally after being arrested on state battery charges in Milwaukee. He was scheduled to appear for a hearing before Dugan on April 18. Six agents and officers were present in Dugan’s courtroom that morning, ready to arrest him when he emerged from the hearing.
He testified that Dugan and another judge, Cristela Cervera, put on their robes and stepped into the hallway. Duggan angrily tells the four team members to report to the Chief Justice’s office.
As Cervera led them into the office, Dugan went back into her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz out a private door into the hallway. Prosecutors presented a transcript of the audio recording from the microphone in her courtroom, showing that Dugan told her court reporter that she would take “heat” for showing Flores-Ruiz out a private door.
During his confrontation with the team two agents missed Dugan and chased Flores-Ruiz outside and on foot through traffic before he was ultimately arrested. Team members testified that Dugan split them up and forced them out of position, leaving them little time to make a safe arrest in the hallway.
Cervera testified on her own behalf that she was uncomfortable supporting Dugan during the confrontation with the arrest team. She said she was shocked when she heard Dugan escorted Flores-Ruiz out a private door, saying judges should not help defendants avoid arrest. Cervera also testified that Dugan told her three days after the incident that Dugan was “in the doghouse” with Chief Justice Carl Ashley because she “tried to help that guy.”
Dugan’s lawyers countered during cross-examination that Dugan did not intend to disrupt the arrest team and was trying to comply with a draft court policy by Ashley that called for court staff to refer immigration agents making arrests to observers at the courthouse.
They have also argued that the arrest team could have apprehended Flores-Ruiz at any time after she came out of the courtroom and that Dugan should not be blamed for the decision to wait until she came out.