Hearing held for judge accused of allowing immigrant to escape ICE custody

BOSTON (AP) — A hearing began Monday for a Massachusetts judge facing civil charges over allegations that she allowed an immigrant in her court to evade an immigration enforcement agent.

The case stems from a 2018 incident in which Shelley Joseph, a district court judge, is accused of colluding with the immigrant’s attorney and a court officer to allow him escape out a back door of the courthouse after a hearing on charges that included drug possession. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer had been waiting outside the courtroom to detain the defendant, Jose Medina-Perez.

“This case is about the integrity, impartiality and independence of the Massachusetts judiciary and the appearance of the integrity, impartiality and independence every judge must uphold,” Judith Fabricant, special counsel for the commission, told the hearing.

A lawyer for Joseph, Elizabeth Mulvey, said the case had been distorted over time and that everyone had come to believe that her client “let an illegal immigrant out of the door” with half of those people believing she should be jailed and the other half calling her a “folk hero.”

She argued Joseph had been vilified in the media and people were giving the impression that “dozens of people” had seen Joseph “get off the bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug and wish him god speed.”

“Today in this court room and we are going to have opportunity to hear all the evidence,” Mulvey said.

The case is similar to a Milwaukee judge accused in April of helping a man evade immigration authorities. The case has escalated a clash between the Trump administration and local authorities over the Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after agents chased him on foot.

In the Massachusetts case, federal obstruction of justice charges against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench. That agency, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, concluded last year that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial officer.”

Denis McInerney, the hearing officer assigned to the case by the Supreme Judicial Court, said he will hear the evidence and then make a recommendation afterward based on whether he find Joseph violated the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct. The hearing is expected to last about a week.

Much of the first day was dominated by the first witness, lawyer David Jellinek, who told the court he had been hired that day to represent Medina-Perez and had been granted immunity by federal prosecutors. Along with the drug charges, Medina-Perez was in court on a warrant out of Pennsylvania.

After doing some research, Jellinek believed his client wasn’t the same person wanted on the warrant. “I was worried they were going to take a US citizen into custody,” he told the court. “I was quite concerned for my client.”

Jellinek failed to convince the ICE agent that they had the “wrong guy” so he came up with a plan to release Medina-Perez out the back door.

Fabricant argued that Joseph signal her approval for the plan – including an off the record conversation during a side bar — when she appeared sympathetic to Jellinek’s desire for his client to avoid ICE.

But another attorney for Joseph, Thomas Hoopes, suggest that Jellinek might have misinterpreted Joseph’s comments when she raised the possibility that Medina-Perez could be detained, rather than be released. The prosecutor had agreed Medina-Perez wasn’t the man wanted in Pennsylvania and moved to drop the fugitive from justice charge. She also wasn’t seeking bail on the drug charges so he was free to go.

Much will hinge on what was said during that off the record conversation, which lasted only 52 seconds and is being disputed by both sides.