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A judge in Massachusetts is scheduled to attend a hearing for assisting an undocumented immigrant in escaping from court to evade ICE agents in 2018, a situation that resembles the recent arrest of a Wisconsin judge in a strikingly similar incident.
Boston Municipal Court Judge Shelley Joseph is expected to participate in a public hearing on June 9 regarding her alleged “intentional judicial misconduct” for permitting the migrant, who had been deported twice, to abscond before being apprehended by immigration authorities, as reported by the Boston Herald.
The hearing in front of the Commission on Judicial Conduct will mirror a formal trial, providing an opportunity for her legal representatives to present supporting evidence on her behalf.
Joseph is accused of violating the “code of judicial conduct” by “failing to comply with the law.”
She was initially charged by a Trump appointee, former US Attorney Andrew Lelling, for conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice for allegedly helping Jose Medina-Perez, who was facing narcotics charges, leave her court via a backdoor when ICE showed up with a detainer.
However, the charges were dropped after the judge surrendered, and her case instead moved to the commission.
The commission — a state agency that oversees probes into alleged misconduct by those admitted to the bench — filed charges against Joseph later last year.
The update in her case comes after Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested last Friday on charges of helping a Mexican illegal migrant evade the feds in her courtroom.
Dugan, who has been on the Milwaukee County bench for nearly a decade, was accused of obstruction of justice and concealing Eduardo Flores-Ruiz from arrest following a pre-trial hearing earlier this month.