MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin judge is accused of helping a Mexican immigrant evade federal authorities did not take the stand Thursday after her attorneys presented less than an hour of witnesses in her defense as she faces charges of obstruction and concealment.
The case against Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was scheduled to go before the jury later Thursday after closing arguments.
The highly unusual indictment of a sitting judge is an extraordinary consequence of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Dugan’s supporters say Trump wants to make an example of her to weaken judicial opposition to immigration arrests.
The case is a “shot across the bow” for state judges everywhere, designed to intimidate them, said Howard Schweber, a political scientist and affiliated faculty at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“It is inconceivable that this prosecution would have been brought under a previous administration,” Schweber said. “This is really extraordinary, I would even say unprecedented, especially in my adult life. I have never seen anything like it. And professionally speaking, it is quite shocking.”
- This courtroom sketch shows Judge Laura Gramling Perez during the trial of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, Thursday, December 18, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
This courtroom sketch shows Judge Katie Kegel during the trial of Judge Hannah Dugan in the Milwaukee County Circuit, Thursday, December 18, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
1 by 4
This courtroom sketch shows Judge Laura Gramling Perez during the trial of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan, Thursday, December 18, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Adela Tesnow via AP, Pool)
Prosecutors have tried to show that Dugan deliberately interfered with a federal immigration task force’s efforts to arrest 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Brown Watzka told the jury in closing arguments that Dugan had provided Flores-Ruiz with an escape route.
“A judge does not have absolute authority to do whatever she wants when she puts on her robe,” Brown Watzka said. “The defendant is not on trial because of her views on immigration policy. She is on trial because she made a series of purposeful decisions to go outside the law to help an individual evade federal arrest.”
Dugan’s team filed a motion late Wednesday asking U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who is presiding over the case, to find Dugan not guilty without asking jurors to deliberate. Adelman did not immediately rule on the motion Thursday, which is common after prosecutors present their case.
Dugan argued in her motion that she may have caused obstruction to the SWAT team, but that she did not deliberately attempt to conceal Flores-Ruiz. She noted that although he left through a private door, he entered the public hallway where two officers saw him.
Dugan also emphasized that long-standing legal precedent prevents civil arrests of people coming or going from courthouses, and that immigration removal proceedings are civil actions.Her attorneys called just four witnesses Thursday morning, including a public defender who took photos of the SWAT team in the hallway and two judges who testified that the draft policy was in flux in the weeks before Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.
The final witness was the former mayor of Milwaukee and a Democratic congressman Tom Barrettwho testified that he had known Dugan since high school and described her as “extremely honest.” He told jurors during cross-examination that he was not at the courthouse the day of the arrest and was only testifying about her character.
Officers who came to arrest Flores-Ruiz testified that they learned he was in the country illegally after he was arrested in Milwaukee on battery charges. Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing on April 18. Six officers and deputies stood in Dugan’s courtroom that morning, ready to arrest him as he emerged from the hearing.
They testified that Dugan and another judge, Kristela Cervera, entered the hallway wearing their robes. Dugan angrily told four members of the team to report to the chief judge’s office.
As Cervera led them to the office, Dugan returned to her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz through a private door into the hallway. Prosecutors produced transcripts of audio recordings from microphones in her courtroom that show Dugan told her court reporter that she would endure “the heat.” for letting Flores-Ruiz out the private door.
Two officers who missed Dugan during her confrontations with the team followed Flores-Ruiz outside, and a traffic chase ensued before he was ultimately arrested. Members of the team testified that Dugan divided them and forced them out of position, leaving them too short-handed to safely arrest in the hallway.
Dugan’s attorneys argued that the SWAT team could have arrested Flores-Ruiz at any time after he emerged from the courtroom and that Dugan should not be blamed for their decision to wait until he was outside.
Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
#Wisconsin #Judge #Hannah #Dugan #trial #aiding #immigrants #testifying