Shelley Joseph, Newton judge accused of helping man evade ICE in 2018, to face hearing Monday

Boston Globe

4 hours ago

It's the latest turn in a contentious case that has drawn national headlines and has now stretched from President Trump's first term to his second, both of which have been characterized by stepped-up immigration enforcement.
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Back in April of 2018,
Jose Medina-Perez, a Dominican national who had been deported twice before, was in court to face charges for drugs and for being a fugitive from justice.
An agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had shown up to the courthouse to detain him.
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But the federal government, in a felony indictment on obstruction of justice charges, alleged Joseph conspired with a court officer to let Medina-Perez out a secured back door of the courthouse not used by the public, helping him slip out undetected while the ICE agent was waiting in a public lobby.
Joseph was suspended in 2019, then
As part of
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The commission in December 2024
At issue is what, if any, discipline is appropriate for Joseph, including whether she should be removed from the bench entirely.
Joseph's attorney declined to comment. A formal response to the charges filed by the commission last year denied any misconduct and said she 'has fully cooperated and responded truthfully to the inquiries of her judicial colleagues, supervisors, and judicial disciplinary authorities.'
Disciplinary hearings of this kind are uncommon.
Since 2000, the commission has formally filed charges only five other times,
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Regardless of how it turns out the case has already reverberated through courts in Massachusetts and beyond.
It comes a time when tensions are running high over the deportation efforts playing out in cities across the country, including in Massachusetts.
And it has served as an enduring warning to judges that they need to be careful about what they do when an ICE agent is in or near their courtroom, said Jack Lu, a retired Superior Court judge.
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'The message has been crystal clear for a long time: Don't dare do anything that can be cast as obstruction of justice of any kind, and in particular for undocumented persons,' Lu said.
While the charges against Joseph are serious, Lu said the context is important, including that she was an inexperienced judge, who at the time had been on the job for less than a year.
Lu said he empathized with Joseph and hoped that the court would be lenient in disciplining what, in his view, appeared to be 'momentary lapses in judgment.'
'Hopefully, we'll hear contrition and mitigation in the hearing,' Lu said. 'And maybe a little mercy.'
Dan Glaun of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Spencer Buell can be reached at