Hannah Dugan's legal team files memo arguing for dismissal, citing Trump ruling as precedent

Yahoo

3 days ago

Lawyers representing Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan filed a memorandum May 29 arguing her federal prosecution is not allowed, citing what they say is more than 400 years of legal precedent supporting their position.
The 37-page memorandum supports and expands on a motion to dismiss, which Dugan's legal team filed on May 14, the day after she was indicted on charges she helped an undocumented immigrant who was appearing in her court evade federal officers.
In the filings, attorney Dean Strang and others on the high-powered legal team argue that as a judge, Dugan has "absolute immunity" for official acts in her courtroom and she cannot be charged for them.
Dugan's lawyers also argue the prosecution constitutes federal overreach, violating the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which delineates states' rights.
"This is an extraordinary prosecution that poses a threat to federalism and judicial independence," the filing says. "Dismissal here flows from a straightforward application of long-settled law. The indictment itself is an ugly innovation. Its dismissal will not be."
The filing goes on to say: "Nothing in the Constitution allows the federal government to superintend the administration and case-by-case, daily functioning of state courts as this indictment proposes."
Dugan was indicted May 13 on charges she obstructed a federal agency and helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz escape. Flores-Ruiz, 31, was arrested following a short chase outside the courthouse.
Dugan herself was arrested by the FBI at the courthouse a week later.
Dugan, 66, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and currently has a trial date of July 21 before U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman.
The deadline for motions is May 30.
Acting U.S. Attorney Rick Frohling was not immediately available for comment. Kenneth Gale, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Milwaukee, said he does not expect prosecutors in the case to respond in the media to the filing.
Federal prosecutors have until June 9 to reply to the defense's motion to dismiss and the defense must reply by June 16. Then the matter will be before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph, who will write a report and recommendations for Adelman.
Flores-Ruiz was in Dugan's court April 18 for a status conference on a misdemeanor battery case. He was charged with repeatedly hitting his roommate in the head and briefly strangling him, according to the complaint. Two women who tried to intervene also were hit, it says.
Flores-Ruiz has pleaded not guilty to the battery charge and also to a federal charge that he re-entered the country after he was deported 12 years ago.
Six federal officers were in the county courthouse on April 18 to arrest him.
Federal prosecutors allege that Dugan helped Flores-Ruiz elude federal officers by sending the officers to the chief judge's office and allowing Flores-Ruiz and his attorney to exit a door used by jurors.
That door emptied into a public hallway about 15 feet from the main entrance. A federal agent was in the hallway, spotted him and followed. Flores-Ruiz was arrested outside the courthouse.
On May 21, Milwaukee County released several hours of surveillance video, some of which will likely be shown if Dugan goes to trial. In the video, Dugan and another judge are seen talking to the agents and directing them to the chief judge.
In the motion to dismiss, the defense argued: "Immunity is not a defense to the prosecution to be determined later by a jury or court; it is an absolute bar to the prosecution at the outset."
"The immunity and federalism issues must be resolved swiftly because the government has no basis in law to prosecute her. The prosecution against her is barred."
The motion goes on to call the prosecution "virtually unprecedented and entirely unconstitutional" and calls problems with the case "legion.
In support of the immunity claim, the motion cites a U.S. Supreme Court ruling focused on then former-President Donald Trump's claim of immunity from prosecution.
This article will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge Hannah Dugan lawyers file memo arguing for dismissal