U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman left the hannah dugan obstruction conviction in place on Tuesday, rejecting the former Milwaukee County Circuit judge’s bid to undo the jury verdict in the ICE courtroom-evasion case. Dugan had been convicted of helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz leave a courthouse while immigration officers were there to detain him.
Lynn Adelman Ruling
Adelman had postponed sentencing on June 3 to consider whether the conviction should be overturned, then ruled that it would stand. He did not immediately set a sentencing date, leaving Dugan facing the next stage of the case after the failed challenge.
Dugan’s defense team said, “The court’s decision is wrong.” Her attorney argued that the conviction for helping Flores-Ruiz leave the courthouse was invalid and should be overturned after a federal appeals court in April overturned a key Virginia immigration case cited in her case.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz Courtroom Case
Adelman rejected that argument and said the attempted arrest of Flores-Ruiz counted as a pending proceeding. In his written ruling, he said the operation was planned and targeted rather than the result of a random encounter.
He also wrote, “Defendant argues that ICE was acting as a law enforcement agency here.” Adelman added, “But this ignores the fact that, unlike, say, the FBI, ICE can issue its own warrants and adjudicate and effectuate a removal, as it did with Flores-Ruiz, without the involvement of a court. This makes a difference.”
Sentencing After Dec. 19
Dugan was convicted by a jury on Dec. 19 and resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court after her conviction. She had been a judge for nine years and resigned two weeks after the verdict amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers.
She faces up to five years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation for defendants like Dugan, who have no criminal history and are convicted of a nonviolent crime. The ruling keeps the conviction in place and moves the case toward sentencing under those guidelines.
