The obstruction charges against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan are in the hands of a federal jury after the four-day trial in the illegal immigrant escape case concluded in a federal court on Thursday.
The 12-person jury will decide whether to find Dugan guilty on two obstruction charges after she allegedly helped an illegal immigrant and his lawyer evade federal immigration officers by letting them exit her courtroom out of a non-public back door. The jury received the case shortly after 3 p.m. Eastern time, the same day the defense rested its case and both sides presented their closing arguments.
The Justice Department spent most of Monday, along with all of Tuesday and Wednesday, laying out its case against Dugan, calling several witnesses, including one of Dugan’s fellow judges on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Judge Kristela Cervera, who also serves on the same state court, offered damaging testimony against Dugan, including saying she was “mortified” that people may have thought she worked with Dugan to help the illegal immigrant evade arrest, according to local Milwaukee news station WITI.
“Judges shouldn’t be helping defendants evade arrests,” Cervera said.
The DOJ also had several law enforcement witnesses take the stand to discuss the unusual nature in which Dugan conducted herself with the federal officers seeking to arrest the illegal immigrant before her court.
Mercedes De La Rosa, the lawyer of the illegal immigrant whom Dugan allegedly helped evade arrest, testified on Wednesday, saying the judge instructing her to exit the courtroom via the back door was an “unusual” situation and that she felt “freaked out,” according to WITI.
Dugan’s lawyer quickly laid out their case on Thursday morning, calling only four witnesses, including former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who defended Dugan as “extremely honest.” The indicted judge’s lawyers stressed in their closing arguments that it was a “very unprecedented trial.”
“They are trying to make an example of Hannah Dugan,” Jason Luczak, Dugan’s lawyer, said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They are trying to besmirch her honest reputation.”
In its closing arguments, the DOJ told the jury to put aside personal opinions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement and immigration operations, and look at the facts of the case, saying “no one is above the law, not even those who wear judicial robes,” according to WITI.
JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN’S TRIAL FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ESCAPE CASE BEGINS WITH FBI AGENT ON THE STAND
Dugan was suspended from her duties as a Milwaukee County circuit judge by the Wisconsin Supreme Court shortly after she was federally charged earlier this year.
Dugan’s charges have a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted. The jury could reach a verdict on the charges against Dugan at any time.