MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A federal grand jury indicted a Milwaukee judge who dared to interfere with federal agents who were poised to barge into her courtroom and arrest a witness testifying in his own defense in an unrelated local case. It was the second such case in the nation in which Trump deportation agents had attempted to sweep into a local courtroom. The Milwaukee grand jury that indicted Judge Dugan had been convened on instructions from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the behest of President Trump. Trump has zero tolerance for any and all local resistance to his deportation crusade that so far has rounded up 40,000 immigrants. It was a Mexican citizen who Judge Hannah Dugan was shielding inside her courtroom. When Dugan was arrested, Bondi said: “If you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are, if you are helping hide anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you.” Bondi’s argument was that deportation agents don’t need a judge-signed warrant to arrest immigrants. It’s a dubious argument, according to constitutional scholars, because it has been used to deny due process. The two-page indictment accuses Judge Dugan of confronting the Trump agents and telling them they needed a judicial warrant to conduct their operation. It also accused the judge of directing the undocumented immigrant and his lawyer to exit through a separate door to sidestep federal agents. If convicted, Judge Dugan could face six years in prison or $350,000 in fines. Dugan’s attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said the judge maintains her innocence: “Judge Dugan looks forward to being vindicated.”
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Earlier: Arrested Milwaukee judge is cast as Trump victim
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Earlier: Fellow judge on Dugan arrest: Trump bullying
Earlier: Wisconsin judge arrested for thwarting federal agents
About grand juries
Grand juries are secret citizen panels that hear a prosecutor’s evidence to bring a charge. The person being accused has no opportunity to respond and often doesn’t even know he or she is being investigated. In short, grand juries are a governmental tool to generate evidence for a case that otherwise is weak. Once indicted, the accused person has a right to trial by a regular jury of peers and can present a defense. An indictment is not a verdict but rather a citizen finding that a charge should be filed. Grand juries can be abused by government to harass political enemies. The announcement of an indictment also can be misused as a publicity weapon to discredit a targeted person in the public’s eye.
NOTE: Minnesota and some other states require grand juries to evaluate evidence before a first-degree murder charge is filed. This a double safeguard against flimsy governmental prosecutions.