Trial date set for Milwaukee judge accused of helping undocumented man evade arrest
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan's trial on federal charges alleging she tried to help an undocumented immigrant evade arrest has been set for Dec. 15.
Jury selection will be on Dec. 11 and 12, Judge Lynn Adelman determined during a scheduling hearing on Wednesday.
Dugan has pleaded not guilty.
The trial date comes after Adelman last month denied Dugan's motion to dismiss the case on the argument of judicial immunity.
“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered 'part of a judge’s job,'" Adelman wrote in the decision.
The order followed an earlier magistrate judge’s recommendation to have the case continue.
Dugan was arrested in April and charged in a two-count federal indictment alleging she knowingly concealed a person sought for arrest by immigration authorities and for obstruction of official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings.
According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18 to arrest an undocumented man appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.
Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge's office down the hall and then sent the man and his attorney out a non-public door in an alleged attempt, authorities claim, to help him evade arrest on immigration violations.
The man was later arrested.
Dugan was arrested and charged a week after the incident.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was "in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties."
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
