Hannah Dugan urges court to toss illegal immigrant escape case ruling
Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is asking a federal judge in Milwaukee to overturn her obstruction conviction (or grant a new trial) as she awaits sentencing. The conviction stems from her alleged role in helping an illegal immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, evade arrest after immigration officers came to her courthouse.
At the Wednesday hearing, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman-appointed by former president Bill Clinton-heard arguments on Dugan’s motion to reconsider. Dugan’s attorneys say a Fourth Circuit ruling in a similar case should require her conviction to be tossed, arguing that the appellate court found an immigration arrest did not qualify as a “pending proceeding” under the obstruction law used against her. They acknowledged that the Fourth Circuit decision isn’t controlling in Wisconsin, but said it should still carry persuasive weight as Wisconsin federal courts follow Seventh Circuit precedent.
Prosecutors urged the court to stick with its original ruling, defending a broad interpretation of what constitutes a “pending proceeding.” Adelman did not signal how he will rule or when a decision will be issued; Dugan’s sentencing was delayed while the motion is considered. If successful, overturning the conviction would eliminate a prominent Justice Department case from the second Trump governance.
Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan urged a federal judge this week to toss out her conviction on obstruction charges for helping an illegal immigrant evade arrest last year, as part of a last-ditch effort before she is sentenced.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, heard arguments in a federal courtroom in Milwaukee on Wednesday over Dugan’s motion to reconsider either tossing the conviction or ordering a new trial, with Dugan’s lawyers arguing that one of those options is necessary after a federal appeals court reversed a ruling both the judge and the Justice Department had relied on in Dugan’s case.
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Dugan’s lawyers pointed to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a case about an illegal immigrant being detained by federal immigration officers, who later escaped and was rearrested by federal officers. The illegal immigrant had been indicted for obstructing an immigration proceeding, but the appeals court reversed a lower court’s ruling upholding the indictment. The Fourth Circuit panel ruled that the immigration arrest was not “pending proceeding” as defined in the federal law under which the illegal immigrant was charged.
While the Fourth Circuit’s ruling is not binding in Dugan’s case, because Wisconsin federal district courts are subject to the Seventh Circuit’s precedents, her lawyers argued it should still require her December 2025 jury conviction to be tossed.
“The lone Court of Appeals in the country to address this issue has said that’s not valid and the conviction is overturned,” Dugan’s lawyer Steve Biskupic told the court, per local Milwaukee television station WISN. “We ask you do the same in this case.”
Adelman questioned both sides over their stance on the motion to toss the jury ruling, with the federal judge pressing DOJ lawyers on how broad the definition of a “pending proceeding” is under the federal law Dugan was charged under. When pressed by Adelman on whether an immigration proceeding under the law could last years, DOJ lawyer Richard Frohling said it could be a couple of years or a couple minutes, per WISN.
“The court should stick with its ruling,” Frohling said, per the Associated Press.
Adelman did not offer any indication of how he would rule or when he would issue a ruling during Wednesday’s hearing. Dugan’s sentencing had originally been scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed pending the resolution of Dugan’s last-ditch motion to toss her conviction.
Dugan’s conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but because she has no prior criminal record, she is unlikely to get close to the maximum sentence. Her lawyers have said they plan to appeal the conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
CONVICTED MILWAUKEE JUDGE RESIGNS WHILE APPEALING CHARGE FOR HELPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ESCAPE
The former judge’s conviction stems from helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal immigrant who appeared in April 2025 before her court, and his lawyer exit her courtroom via a side door after federal immigration officers appeared at the courthouse to arrest him. Flores-Ruiz was arrested shortly after leaving the courthouse, while Dugan was arrested roughly a week later.
Dugan’s arrest was touted by the Justice Department as a high-profile example that “no one is above the law,” as FBI Director Kash Patel asserted in a post about the state judge at the time of her arrest. If Adelman rules in favor of Dugan’s bid to reverse the conviction, it would wipe away one of the DOJ’s major convictions of the second Trump administration.
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