A former judge convicted of obstructing the arrest of an undocumented immigrant was sentenced Wednesday to a $5,000 fine but spared time behind bars.
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A jury in December convicted Hannah Dugan of a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding for interfering with the arrest outside of her courtroom while she was serving as a Milwaukee County judge. Dugan resigned as a judge in January.
U.S. District Judge Lynn S. Adelman of Wisconsin’s Eastern District fined Dugan $5,000 but did not sentence her to probation or prison time, according to local media reports. Adelman, a former Democratic state senator, was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton.
The Justice Department used the case as a rallying point, with FBI Director Kash Patel making her arrest public in a social media post and later sharing a photo of the judge in handcuffs.
Dugan faced up to five years in prison. Prosecutors did not ask for a specific sentence but cited federal sentencing guidelines that recommended a sentence of 15 to 21 months imprisonment. Dugan’s attorneys asked that she be given no time in prison and have said they plan to appeal her conviction.
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In April 2025, federal agents showed up outside Dugan’s courtroom when Eduardo Flores Ruiz appeared before her on misdemeanor battery charges. They were there to arrest Flores Ruiz, who had been deported to Mexico in 2013 and was again in the United States illegally.
Dugan confronted the agents and sent them down the hall to the office of the county’s chief judge. While most of the agents were away, she postponed Flores Ruiz’s hearing and told him to go out a back door in her courtroom. The agents caught up to him soon afterward outside of the courthouse and arrested him; he was deported in November.
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