A federal grand jury indicted Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan on two counts arising from events on April 18, 2025, when she allegedly directed Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national facing misdemeanor charges, out a private courthouse exit to help him avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had arrived to detain him [1][2]. The government charged Dugan with felony obstruction of federal agents and a misdemeanor count of concealing an undocumented person from arrest. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of the Eastern District of Wisconsin presided [1]. Defense counsel Steven M. Biskupic and Jason Luczak contested both counts at trial, arguing that Dugan's conduct fell within the legitimate exercise of judicial authority over courthouse operations [2].
After approximately six hours of deliberation, the jury returned a mixed verdict on Dec. 18, 2025 [1]. It convicted Dugan on the felony obstruction count and acquitted her on the misdemeanor concealment charge [1][2]. The split verdict reflects the jury's apparent distinction between Dugan's affirmative act of redirecting Flores-Ruiz and the narrower statutory elements required to prove concealment under federal immigration law. Dugan, who was a sitting state circuit court judge at the time of the charged conduct, is the first state jurist known to have been convicted of obstructing federal immigration enforcement operations.
The felony obstruction conviction carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison [2]. Judge Adelman scheduled sentencing for June 3, 2026 [1][3]. No Guidelines calculation or prosecution sentencing recommendation has been reported in the available sources ahead of that hearing.
Following the verdict, Dugan's defense team moved to overturn the conviction [3]. As of May 7, 2026, that post-trial motion remained pending before Judge Adelman [3]. The case has drawn attention from both federal prosecutors and judicial-conduct scholars as a test of the boundary between a judge's administrative authority over courthouse proceedings and affirmative obstruction of federal law enforcement.