Fellow Judge Delivers Blow To The Defense Of Hannah Dugan

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

The trial of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan began this week.

Yesterday, the defense was delivered a blow from the testimony of the judge, who Dugan enlisted to confront ICE officers seeking to arrest an illegal alien in the courthouse.

Judge Kristela Cervera testified that she was pulled into the dispute by Dugan, who she said admitted that she was trying to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz as he evaded officers.

Many of us were wondering who the second judge was who appeared in the hallway wearing her robes. It is irregular to see judges outside of their courtrooms wearing their robes.

Cervera said that Dugan specifically told her to keep her robe on and that she was reluctant to do so: “I didn’t want to walk in the hallway with my robe on.” Dugan, however, allegedly wanted the agents to see them in their robes as a sign of authority.

She said that the agent remained respectful but that Dugan was getting upset in the confrontation: “Her irritation seemed to progress to anger. I thought she could have been a little more diplomatic.”

That coincides with the testimony of FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, who stated, “I would say angry is the best way to describe it.”

Likewise, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Joseph Zuraw stated that Dugan ordered him to “get out” of the public hallway and told him to go to the chief judge’s office. She then allegedly helped the suspect escape through a side door.

Cervera also testified that she was “shocked” by Dugan’s later conduct and that “judges should not be helping defendants evade arrest.”

She added, “I was mortified. I thought that someone may think that I was part of some of what happened.”

Cervera said she was shocked by attorneys praising her for helping Flores-Ruiz escape.

She described attorneys pumping their fists and telling her, “You go, Judge,” and saying, “Judge, you’re ‘goated’ now.”

She said that she avoided Cervera but ran into her in an elevator. She noted that Cervera told her she was “in the dog house” with the Chief Judge for trying to help Flores-Ruiz.

The testimony supports the allegation that Dugan knowingly sought to help Flores-Ruiz and that her actions were outside her role as a judge in the courthouse.

Dugan is charged with obstruction of a federal agency, a felony, and concealing a wanted person, a misdemeanor. As I discussed in earlier columns, the defense may be hoping for jury nullification in the liberal district. The reaction of lawyers lionizing the judges for facilitating the escape of a suspect may suggest that such a conclusion is possible in this district. The defense may be hoping that at least one juror will discard any testimony and stand with Dugan against ICE and the Trump Administration.

The jury pool can only be viewed as overwhelmingly in favor of Dugan. Kamala Harris won Milwaukee by a margin of 68%-30% over Trump.  The chances of getting politically motivated jurors are obviously significant, though that obviously does not mean that jurors cannot be persuaded in the end by the strength of this evidence.