A Milwaukee County Circuit judge was indicted in federal court on Tuesday after allegations that she assisted an undocumented immigrant in evading federal agents last month.
Judge Hannah Dugan was indicted on charges of obstruction and concealing an individual from arrest, the same charges for which she was initially arrested and charged.
Dugan’s attorney said in a statement on her behalf Tuesday that she “asserts her innocence and looks forward to being vindicated in court.”
Dugan is accused of assisting a defendant in her courtroom to evade immigration officers stationed in the hallway outside.
After learning that plainclothes agents were in the courthouse on April 18, Dugan “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers,” according to the affidavit.
According to court documents, witnesses claimed she confronted the federal agents in a public hallway, repeatedly demanded they leave, and stated that they needed a different type of warrant to make the arrest. She reportedly also consulted with the courthouse’s chief judge about the matter.
When she returned to her courtroom, witnesses told investigators that she prevented the man and his attorney from exiting through the main doors into the hall and instead escorted them out via a jury door. According to the document, agents caught up with the man outside and arrested him after a brief foot chase.
She made her first appearance on April 25th and was released on her own recognizance. Dugan’s attorney, Craig Mastantuono, stated during the appearance that “Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest.” “It was not made in the interest of public safety,” the Associated Press stated.
She is due in court on Thursday.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled at the end of April that Dugan would be “temporarily prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit court judge” while the case progressed through the legal system, according to court records.
“It is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties,” the court stated in its two-page order.
