Judge and court guard will stand trial for helping illegal alien escape courtroom – IOTW Report

Judge and court guard will stand trial for helping illegal alien escape courtroom

UH-

A federal appeals court today declined to toss criminal charges against Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph and her courtroom deputy Wesley MacGregor that stem from the way they helped a defendant wanted as part of a Trump-era ICE crackdown on immigrants slip out the back door of their courthouse while ICE agents waited in the lobby.

In its ruling the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said that Joseph and MacGregor declined to take up the case before it goes to trial, saying the two would not lose any of their rights by going to trial. if they feel they are wrongly convicted, they can appeal then, the court said.

The decision comes on an appeal by Joseph and MacGregorof a federal district court judge’s denial of their request to dismiss their indictments on three obstruction-of-justice charges related to an incident on April 2, 2018: When Joseph learned an ICE agent was in her courtroom and planned to take custody of a criminal defendant it claimed was in the country illegally. Joseph first ordered the agent out of her courtroom, after telling him that when the hearing involving the man was over, he would leave through the lobby, then worked with MacGregor to turn off the courtroom recorder and then escort the man out a rear door of the courthouse. ICE eventually did detain the man, about two weeks later.

Joseph and MacGregor argued, in part, their indictments violated the Tenth Amendment, which gives state officials the right to not carry out certain federal laws. The appeals court, however, said the two went beyond not carrying out federal law to what sure looked like actively obstructing its enforcement, so they’re going to have to make their case at a trial first.

more

17 Comments on Judge and court guard will stand trial for helping illegal alien escape courtroom

Comments are closed.