Former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan’s legal team is seeking to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict against her, arguing immigration agents were not allowed to make an arrest in the courthouse and judges are immune from such prosecution.
Dugan’s high-powered defense team also argued U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman’s answer to a jury question during deliberations was wrong, resulting in contradictory verdicts. If the motion to overturn the verdict is denied, the team is asking Adelman to order a new trial.
A federal jury found Dugan guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents, a felony, on Dec. 18. In a split verdict, the jury found her not guilty of concealing the undocumented immigrant agents were seeking to arrest, a misdemeanor.
Dugan is “the first American judge ever to face trial and a guilty verdict on a felony charge for acts that all were ‘part of a judge’s job,'” her attorneys wrote in the 46-page motion, filed Jan. 30 in federal court in Milwaukee. “That conviction cannot stand, as a matter of law.”
Dugan was thrust to the forefront in the clash between the judiciary and the Trump administration as it executes a sweeping immigration crackdown nationwide.
Dugan’s attorneys are asking Adelman to take the rare step of setting aside the jury’s verdict. The government has until Feb. 20 to respond.
Adelman, who earlier rejected the defense’s judicial immunity claim to dismiss the case, is expected to rule on the latest motion after the defense’s final filing deadline, March 6.
Regardless of how Adelman rules, it seems likely the Dugan case will end up at the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and maybe even the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dugan resigns after guilty verdict
Dugan, 66, resigned from the bench on Jan. 3, as an effort to impeach her and remove her from the bench was mounting.
Dugan said the public deserves to have a judge on the bench as her legal battle continues. Gov. Tony Evers appointed Milwaukee County assistant district attorney Owen Piotrowski to fill the vacancy, effective Feb. 1.
Dugan had been suspended with pay from the bench during the criminal case, continuing to receive her roughly $175,000 annual salary. A fundraiser was started to pay for Dugan’s defense team.
A judge for nine years, Dugan faces up to five years in prison. However, it is unlikely she would get time behind bars. For a defendant with no criminal history who is convicted of a nonviolent crime, federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation.
After the jury verdict was returned, Adelman did not set a sentencing date or order a pre-sentence investigation. Both are routine among Milwaukee’s federal judges after a jury returns a guilty verdict.
Broad appeal argues trial error, immunity
Dugan’s lead lawyer, Steve Biskupic, signaled in a post-verdict interview that the team would mount a broad appeal. The filing delivered that.
The team argued that federal agents were not legally allowed to execute an administrative warrant at the Milwaukee County Courthouse, citing federal court rulings and a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling saying civil arrests are not allowed.
“This privilege specifically precludes ICE courthouse arrests for deportations or removal,” the motion says.
Such arrests have occurred around the country and elsewhere in Wisconsin.
The brief also argues that the government cast ordinary actions that a judge takes as nefarious criminal conduct and that the case should not have been charged as a felony.
The motion also brings back the argument that, as a judge conducting official acts, Dugan should be immune from prosecution. The team says, now that Adelman has heard the evidence, he should dismiss the case.
“The Court certainly can say as a matter of law now, after hearing the government’s case, that Dugan was entitled to immunity from this prosecution.”
A normal day in court becomes extraordinary
Dugan was charged with trying to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, elude a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest team on April 18, 2025.
Flores-Ruiz, 31, was appearing before Dugan on misdemeanor battery charges. He had illegally re-entered the U.S. after being deported in 2013. Six agents were waiting in the hallway to arrest him after his appearance before Dugan.
Dugan and another judge went into the public corridor, questioned the agents and directed them to the chief judge’s office. Dugan returned to her courtroom, called Flores-Ruiz’s case, and then led him and his lawyer into a hallway reserved for staff and jurors.
According to an audio recording from court that day, Dugan’s court reporter offered to show the pair out the private hallway, but Dugan responded, “I’ll do it. I’ll get the heat.”
Flores-Ruiz and his attorney emerged in the public corridor, 12 feet from the main door. Two agents followed and arrested Flores-Ruiz outside after a short foot chase.
Answers to jury questions part of appeal
During deliberations, the jury asked Adelman if Dugan needed to know the identity of the person the agents were seeking to be convicted.
Adelman’s answers differed for the two charges: Yes, she did need to know for the concealment charge. No, she did not need to know for the obstruction charge.
The jury acquitted on the concealment count and found her guilty of obstruction.
A juror who spoke to a Journal Sentinel reporter after the trial said she thinks the jury would have acquitted on both if the answer was the same.
John Diedrich can be reached at [email protected]
