Federal Judge Lynn Adelman Upholds Hannah Dugan’s Obstruction Conviction Over Eduardo Flores-Ruiz

A federal judge upheld the obstruction of justice conviction of former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, ruling that her team could not overturn the jury verdict after she was found guilty of helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz evade ICE agents at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

“Judge upholds the conviction of former Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan for helping immigrant evade ICE A federal judge has declined to overturn a Wisconsin judge’s obstruction conviction for helping a man evade immigration officers who showed up at a courtroom looking to detain him MADISON, Wis”

ABC News

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied Dugan’s motion to reconsider, and the case now moves to sentencing where Dugan could face up to five years in prison.

ABC News

The dispute centered on whether the ICE arrest effort counted as a “pending proceeding” under the federal obstruction law, after Dugan’s attorneys relied on a Fourth Circuit decision out of Virginia that found an ICE arrest was law enforcement activity rather than an official federal proceeding.

Dugan, 67, was convicted by a jury on Dec. 19 and had her sentencing scheduled for June 3 postponed while Adelman considered arguments about whether her conviction should be thrown out entirely.

The underlying episode began on April 18, 2025, when immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan’s legal defense team responded to the Tuesday ruling by saying, "The court’s decision is wrong," while prosecutors argued the Virginia ruling did not apply in Wisconsin and that ICE was acting within an ongoing Department of Homeland Security removal proceeding.

Adelman rejected the defense framing and wrote that "Defendant argues that ICE was acting as a law enforcement agency here," adding that the court found ICE could issue its own warrants and effectuate a removal without court involvement.

Al Jazeera

The Independent reported that Adelman affirmed the conviction would stand without immediately setting a new sentencing date, after he had postponed sentencing on June 3 to consider whether the conviction should be overturned.

Courthouse News described Adelman’s reasoning that the case did not involve a random encounter, quoting him that it was "a targeted operation, conducted pursuant to agency procedures, including the issuance of an arrest warrant for a specific person, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz."

In the courtroom events described across the coverage, Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom, directed them to the chief judge’s office, and after the agents left led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door.

The ruling leaves Dugan facing up to five years in prison, with ABC News and The Independent both saying she is unlikely to be sentenced to time behind bars and that federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation for defendants like her.

“Ex-Judge Dugan loses bid to overturn conviction The former Milwaukee County judge's legal team quickly responded: "The court's decision is wrong”

All Rise News

The Independent said Dugan resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court two weeks after her conviction amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers, and it described her case as an early test of how courts would respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement measures.

Al Jazeera reported that Adelman declined to overturn the conviction and quoted Dugan’s legal defense team again: "The court’s decision is wrong," as the case underscored the Trump administration’s approach to officials Trump considers lenient toward immigrants.

Al Jazeera also reported that Dugan confronted immigration agents seeking Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, telling them their administrative warrant was not sufficient to arrest him, and that she was convicted of helping him evade agents by leading him and his attorney out of a private jury door.

After the events, Flores-Ruiz was deported in November, and the coverage said Dugan’s sentencing had been postponed while motions to toss out the conviction were considered, with sentencing not yet rescheduled.