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Prosecutors worked on a painting Tuesday milwaukee The judge accused of helping an immigrant avoid arrest because he was rude to federal officers and made it more dangerous for them to do their jobs.
The second day of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s trial Tuesday focused on her interactions with officers in court.
Dugan is facing trial in court on charges of obstruction and cover-up for his role in the April incident. Prosecutors say that when she learned that federal officers were waiting outside her courtroom to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, she cleared the way for his escape by directing agents to the chief judge’s office and escorting Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom through a private door.
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.
FBI Agent Philip Jackling testified Tuesday that he was concerned his team was divided when Duggan directed agents to talk to the chief justice.
He said that when Dugan approached him in the hallway outside her courtroom, she looked angry. Another member of the arrest team, Customs and Border Protection supervisory officer Joseph Zhurav, said that Dugan jerked his thumb on his shoulder and told him to “get out” before walking into the Chief Justice’s chamber.
Agents testified that when Flores-Ruiz left the courtroom, five of the six members of the arrest team were in the Chief Justice’s chamber or in the corridor leading to the chamber. Zuraw said he remembers thinking: “This is a bad place we’re in right now. It’s a bad place because we don’t have a sufficient number of officers to safely make arrests.”
He testified that the team followed him outside the courthouse and had to chase him through traffic when they could have safely arrested him in the building.
Dugan’s defense attorneys have suggested that agents could have arrested Flores-Ruiz at any time in the corridor and that Dugan should not be blamed for his decision to wait until he was outside.
Prosecutors are trying to convince a jury in federal court that Dugan was aware of the risk of his actions when he directed an immigrant to a private door while federal agents were at the courthouse to arrest the man.
According to courtroom audio played for the jury on Monday, as they were discussing who would assist Flores-Ruiz, Dugan told his court reporter, “I’m going to get the heat.”
Defense attorney Steven Biskupic said in opening statements that the judge had no intention of impeding the agents. He said Dugan was merely following a draft court policy that called for court personnel to refer immigration agents looking for arrests to supervisors at the court.
Flores-Ruiz was facing state battery charges and was scheduled to appear at a hearing before Dugan on the morning of the incident. Following his arrest by authorities that morning, he was deported months later.
The government’s case is expected to last until Thursday.
The maximum penalty for the more serious charge, obstruction, is five years in prison, although federal judges have great discretion to reduce it.
Before trial, U.S. District Judge Lynn Edelman declined to dismiss the charges, saying there was no firmly established immunity for Dugan.