Ann Jacobs, Chair of Wisconsin's Election Commission, points out flaws in arrest of Judge Dugan

[Nevilledog]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1915857745170796595.html

Let's discuss the *actual* charges against Judge Hannah Dugan using the Complaint against her.
tl;dr - she sent the man in question into the public hallway where agents there to arrest him watched him walk by and did nothing. 1/
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

¶12 - They had a 6-member task force including one ICE, one CBP, 2 FBI and 2 DEA agents. Whew!
¶10 - because of courthouse security, they knew he would be unarmed.
6 people for one unarmed guy. OK. 2/

Starting at around ¶20 there's a lengthy discussion about Judge Dugan's demeanor - "visibly angry" and "walking quickly." Have they never met a judge? Do you think they like having their calendar messed up? Would the same words have been applied to a male judge? 3/

¶32 a discussion about Judge Dugan "forcefully" and "stern[ly] instructing the man in question to go out the jury door. BUT! It is not only a door to the jury room. It is *also* an exit to the *public* hallway. You know, the hallway where law enforcement is waiting. 4/

Let's jump to the heart of the matter - the lede is buried at ¶33. Per the complaint, the judge apparently sent the man TO THE PUBLIC HALLWAY WHERE LAW ENFORCEMENT WAS WAITING. You'll note they sort of gloss over this part. It's as if he miraculously appeared there. 5/
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Then what happens? The two DEA agents SEE him and do [checks notes] nothing. They don't arrest him, they don't do anything. They watch him? 6/
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So 2 law enforcement officers, there to arrest an unarmed man, just watch him. Meanwhile, the man & his lawyer go to the elevators. Note this weird comment to try to make walking to the elevators sound nefarious: 7/
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Here's why this is absurd - there are 2 banks of elevators in the courthouse: 1 goes to the ground floor, and 1 goes to the 9th street exit which is where the parking structure is. In fact, there are even SIGNS telling you which bank of elevator goes where. 8/

So - yes - you sometimes walk past one set of elevators so you can get where you want to go. If you are not going to the parking structure (which most people are), you take the other set of elevators because they are less crowded. 9/

Suspicious? No - literally something hundreds of people do daily in the courthouse. This attempt to make it into something is just dumb (especially since they claim to be familiar with the elevators - clearly not). 10/

Back to the complaint - instead of arresting the man (that's why they're there, right?) 1 of the DEA agents hops in the elevator with him, having alerted the other agents. Pity - he can't speak Spanish so he has no idea what the man & his lawyer are saying. 11/

They then have some sort of keystone cop moment where the man is at the ground level but the agents go to the lower level and have to race around to find him. They chase him and arrest him. Which they could have done in the public hallway but chose not to. 12/

All of which is to say - the attempt to make this into something criminal on the part of the judge who sent him to the public hall where law enforcement was waiting requires a lot of reaching and a lot of work and a lot of pejorative statements designed to taint the complaint.13/

Again - *Per the complaint* the judge sent him into the public hallway directly to the DEA agents waiting there for him. They just inexplicably chose not to act. This was their choice. 14/

The further attempt to sensationalize the matter by arresting Judge Dugan - instead of simply asking her to appear - was wholly unnecessary and certainly appears to be designed solely to intimidate. Very unfortunate. 15/

[Arazi]

1. K&R

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[sheshe2]

3. Thank you for this, Nevilledog.

[Nevilledog]

6. ...

[red dog 1]

4. K&R

[dchill]

5. This story has a certain Ka$h-ay.

Nefarious nincompoopery.

[Iamscrewed]

7. Once again

Straight up fascism. Full Stop.

[pfitz59]

8. I expect the arrest to be tossed

total BS

[Hekate]

9. TY for this info, which somehow makes a lot more sense than the original...

Infuriating. Intended to intimidate not just this judge but ALL judges. Straight out of the Fascist Playbook.

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Judge Dugan was arrested without presenting case to grand jury-this was a stunt to whip MAGA faithful into a frenzy

I am a corporate lawyer but I do know basic federal criminal procedure. Judge Dugan was arrested on a magistrate warrant and the case had NOT been presented to a grand jury. Before this case can go to trial, this case has to be presented to and voted on by a grand jury. The arrest on Friday was a stunt to "whip the MAGA faithful into a frenzy." One can arrest a suspect without a grand jury indictment but normally there has to be good reason for such arrest
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lnuuhqajbk2j

New in PN: Arresting judges is a 5-alarm escalation

"It’s not just that Dugan was arrested, but how she was arrested. The whole point was to cause a scene. There’s no allegation she was attempting to evade arrest, but the FBI still forced a sitting judge to do a perp walk at her place of work."

Link to tweet

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-bondi-arresting-judges-hannah-dugan

It’s not just that Dugan was arrested, but also how she was arrested. The whole point was to cause a scene. She was arrested Friday morning in the parking lot of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, complete with handcuffs. There’s no allegation she was a flight risk or was attempting to evade arrest, but the FBI still forced a sitting judge to do a perp walk at her place of work.

Additionally, Dugan was arrested pursuant to a criminal complaint signed by a federal magistrate judge. There’s nothing improper about that as such, but for felonies in federal court, prosecutors must convene a grand jury and present evidence. Only if the grand jury returns an indictment can someone be prosecuted.

Going before a grand jury isn’t a nicety or a minor procedural step. The Fifth Amendment requires it. Arresting Dugan before convening a grand jury was intended to get flashy headlines and whip the MAGA faithful into a frenzy. Even if a grand jury declines to indict Dugan, the administration has succeeded in creating a climate of fear and suspicion.

Recall that although Trump faced 88 charges in four criminal cases for much worse things than what Dugan is accused of, he was always charged by indictment after presentation to a grand jury and allowed to turn himself in. Here he is in Georgia, where he faced 13 felony counts for trying to overturn the 202 election. Here he is in New York, where he faced — and was convicted of — 34 felonies related to falsifying business records to hide his hush payments to Stormy Daniels. New York state was so solicitous of Trump that he didn’t even have to have his mug shot taken. When he voluntarily surrendered in Miami for the classified documents case, he wasn’t handcuffed.,,,,,

It will be interesting to see a grand jury would indict this judge on the actual facts

One hurdle prosecutors might have in securing an indictment against Dugan was that ICE had an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant, for Flores-Ruiz. The criminal complaint obscures this, referring only to a “warrant” or an “arrest warrant” in most places. The only time an administrative warrant is mentioned is when the complaint quotes Dugan saying it.

As much as the administration would like it to be otherwise, those administrative warrants aren’t the same as judicial warrants. Judicial warrants are signed by a federal or state judge or magistrate and must be complied with as long as they are valid. Administrative warrants — also known as immigration warrants — are issued by administrative agencies such as ICE and signed by an immigration judge. Despite also being called judges, immigration judges are not part of the judicial branch. They are appointed by the attorney general and are part of the executive branch.

I wonder if this case will ever be presented to a grand jury,