Hannah C. Dugan, the Wisconsin state judge who was convicted last month of obstructing federal agents attempting to arrest an undocumented immigrant, has resigned her position in a letter sent to Gov. Tony Evers on Saturday.
Her resignation is expected to take effect immediately.
Judge Dugan, who was first elected to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2016, faced impeachment in the Wisconsin Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans.
“As you know, I am the subject of unprecedented federal legal proceedings, which are far from concluded but which present immense and complex challenges that threaten the independence of our judiciary,” Judge Dugan wrote in a letter to Governor Evers, a Democrat. “I am pursuing this fight for myself and for our independent judiciary. However, the Wisconsin citizens that I cherish deserve to start the year with a judge on the bench in Milwaukee County Branch 31 rather than have the fate of that Court rest in a partisan fight in the state legislature.”
The letter was provided to the Times by Judge Dugan’s lawyers, who declined to provide additional comment.
Judge Dugan faces as much as five years in prison for the felony conviction, but as a first-time offender, she is expected to receive little to no time in prison. She was acquitted of a less serious charge of concealing a person from arrest.
As a person convicted of a felony, she is likely ineligible to continue holding office as a judge in Wisconsin, according to the state Constitution.
During a weeklong trial at a federal courthouse in Milwaukee in December, dozens of witnesses described the events of April 18, when a defendant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, appeared in Judge Dugan’s courtroom on a battery charge.
When a court clerk informed Judge Dugan that federal immigration agents were stationed in the hallway outside her courtroom, the judge responded by walking into the hallway and ordering the agents to go to the office of the chief judge. She then returned to her courtroom, adjourned Mr. Flores-Ruiz’s case, and guided him and his lawyer to leave through a side door in her courtroom.
“I’ll do it,” Judge Dugan was heard saying on an audio recording played in court, in a whispered conversation with a court reporter before directing him to the side door. “I’ll get the heat.”
Judge Dugan did not testify in her own defense.
Mr. Flores-Ruiz, who was arrested by agents after a brief chase outside the courthouse, has since been deported to Mexico, his home country.
By resigning, Judge Dugan will no longer collect her $174,000 salary, which she continued to receive while on administrative leave as she awaited trial.
Robin Vos, the speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, said last month that Judge Dugan must resign or face impeachment.
“The last time a Wisconsin judge was impeached was in 1853,” Mr. Vos, a Republican, said after her conviction. “If Judge Dugan does not resign from her office immediately, the Assembly will begin impeachment proceedings.”
The Assembly returns to session on Monday.
Judge Dugan’s lawyers are seeking for the conviction to be set aside by Judge Lynn Adelman, who presided over Judge Dugan’s trial.
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
The post Judge Convicted of Obstructing Immigration Agents Resigns as Impeachment Looms appeared first on New York Times.
