MILWAUKEE, WI – Earlier in April, a federal judge denied a motion brought forward by former Milwaukee Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan’s defense team to overturn a guilty verdict she received regarding her efforts to help an illegal alien avoid arrest carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) back in 2025.
As previously reported in Law Enforcement Today, a 31-year-old previously deported illegal alien identified as Eduardo Flores-Ruiz appeared before Judge Dugan in court on misdemeanor battery charges on April 18th, 2025. Waiting outside Judge Dugan’s courtroom were ICE agents ready to take Flores-Ruiz into custody following his scheduled court appearance.
Upon Judge Dugan learning of the presence of said ICE agents, she personally confronted the agents alongside another judge in the hallway where they were waiting, directing the agents to wait inside the chief judge’s office. Once the agents were out of the courthouse hallway, Judge Dugan called Flores-Ruiz and his attorney, leading the duo to a discreet hallway used specifically for courthouse staff and jurors in order to enable a discrete escape.
Despite Judge Dugan’s ruse, which afforded Flores-Ruiz a brief head start in an ensuing foot pursuit, ICE agents were still able to apprehend the fleeing illegal alien. Seemingly operating under a flawed belief that her actions fell under a form of judicial immunity, Judge Dugan found herself indicted on obstruction and concealing alien charges, with her being found guilty of the former by a jury on December 18th, 2025.
The 66-year-old judge resigned from the bench weeks after the guilty verdict on January 3rd in lieu of the mounting campaign to have her impeached coming to fruition, but her defense team wasn’t ready to give up the legal fight regarding the criminal conviction. After being presented a motion to overturn Dugan’s guilty verdict, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected the defense’s effort in an April 6th decision, finding there’s no universal “criminal immunity” judges benefit from.
“After surveying the caselaw, I concluded that there is no general rule of criminal immunity for judges,” Judge Adelman noted in his ruling, further adding, “nor was there a basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment described conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job.’”
Dugan’s legal team issued a statement implying an intent to appeal the latest ruling, which said the case would go before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
As previously reported in Law Enforcement Today, a 31-year-old previously deported illegal alien identified as Eduardo Flores-Ruiz appeared before Judge Dugan in court on misdemeanor battery charges on April 18th, 2025. Waiting outside Judge Dugan’s courtroom were ICE agents ready to take Flores-Ruiz into custody following his scheduled court appearance.
Upon Judge Dugan learning of the presence of said ICE agents, she personally confronted the agents alongside another judge in the hallway where they were waiting, directing the agents to wait inside the chief judge’s office. Once the agents were out of the courthouse hallway, Judge Dugan called Flores-Ruiz and his attorney, leading the duo to a discreet hallway used specifically for courthouse staff and jurors in order to enable a discrete escape.
Despite Judge Dugan’s ruse, which afforded Flores-Ruiz a brief head start in an ensuing foot pursuit, ICE agents were still able to apprehend the fleeing illegal alien. Seemingly operating under a flawed belief that her actions fell under a form of judicial immunity, Judge Dugan found herself indicted on obstruction and concealing alien charges, with her being found guilty of the former by a jury on December 18th, 2025.
The 66-year-old judge resigned from the bench weeks after the guilty verdict on January 3rd in lieu of the mounting campaign to have her impeached coming to fruition, but her defense team wasn’t ready to give up the legal fight regarding the criminal conviction. After being presented a motion to overturn Dugan’s guilty verdict, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman rejected the defense’s effort in an April 6th decision, finding there’s no universal “criminal immunity” judges benefit from.
“After surveying the caselaw, I concluded that there is no general rule of criminal immunity for judges,” Judge Adelman noted in his ruling, further adding, “nor was there a basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment described conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job.’”
Dugan’s legal team issued a statement implying an intent to appeal the latest ruling, which said the case would go before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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