Judge Indicted for Helping an Alien Elude ICE — But What About the Prosecutor and Defense Counsel?

[rangerrebew]

Judge Indicted for Helping an Alien Elude ICE — But What About the Prosecutor and Defense Counsel?
 
By Dan Cadman on April 26, 2019

As my colleague Andrew Arthur has written, a Massachusetts state judge has been indicted, along with a court security officer, for federal charges of conspiracy and obstructing justice (and the court officer for perjury also), as the result of aiding a deportable alien from the Dominican Republic to escape from arrest by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who was dispatched to the courthouse to take him into custody.

The reports of the circumstances are both disturbing and straightforward: The judge directed the ICE agent to wait outside the courtroom, then ordered that recording of the hearing cease so that she could discuss with the prosecutor, the defendant, and his attorney how to go about frustrating the ICE agent in his duty.

https://cis.org/Cadman/Judge-Indicted-Helping-Alien-Elude-ICE-What-About-Prosecutor-and-Defense-Counsel

[bilo]

I really want to see more of these out of control judges charged when they violate the laws they are supposed to uphold. At the very least this judge should be removed from the bench and stripped of her law license, if she has one.

[Right_in_Virginia]

A Massachusetts judge has left court in tears after being indicted on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant evade immigration officials.

Judge Shelley M Richmond Joseph and trial court officer Wesley MacGregor are accused of conspiring to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from taking an undocumented immigrant into custody at Newton District Court on April 2, 2018.

Joseph had allegedly ordered the courtroom recording device to be turned off for 52 seconds while she and the defendant Jose Medina-Perez's lawyer had a conversation about getting him out of the courthouse instead of handing him over to an ICE officer, according to the indictment. MacGregor allegedly used his access badge to release Medina-Perez through a rear door. 

Joseph was seen crying when she left federal court in Boston Thursday.

Prosecutors say Joseph participated by creating a pretext for the defendant to be brought downstairs for 'further interview' so he could be released through that door, the indictment said.

Massachusetts US Attorney Andrew Lelling announced the charges against Joseph and MacGregor on Thursday.

'The allegations in today's indictment involve obstruction by a sitting judge, that is intentional interference with the enforcement of federal law, and that is a crime,' Lelling said.

'We cannot pick and choose the federal laws we follow, or use our personal views to justify violating the law.' 

Joseph and MacGregor face charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of a federal proceeding, according to the indictment.

MacGregor is also charged with perjury on suspicion of giving false testimony to a federal grand jury that was reviewing the case.





https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6964529/Judge-CRIES-leaving-court-charged-helping-undocumented-immigrant-evade-ICE.html