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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – A federal appeals court in Virginia released an illegal immigrant on a technicality.
The illegal alien had escaped from custody. He was recaptured, and was convicted on a federal obstruction charge. That court ruling says that under an obstruction charge, the defendant must have obstructed an official proceeding. The court ruled that there wasn’t an official proceeding – the illegal was wanted by law enforcement – but there wasn’t any court action pending. So the obstruction charge was overturned.
Why am I telling you this? Because disgraced and convicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan is using the Virginia case to argue that she, too, was wrongfully convicted. Her appeal was argued yesterday.
The Dugan case, where she helped an illegal immigrant escape from her courtroom by using a side hallway and a door to the street, is fundamentally different. In the Virginia case, the appeal involved a convicted illegal alien. The Dugan case involves her as an accomplice.
Dugan argues that there was no pending case against against the illegal immigrant in her courtroom. He was there on a separate matter-a domestic violence charge. But that’s not entirely true. The ICE agents who arrived at the Milwaukee County courthouse had an arrest warrant. That is indeed how a criminal proceeding begins. A warrant is issued, the subject is arrested, they are booked into custody, the appear in front of a judge – those are all the steps of a criminal proceeding that Hannah Dugan did indeed obstruct. And don’t forget, a jury weighed the case and issued a verdict – a felony conviction.
But, people who believe in the rule of law should prepare to be disappointed. The federal judge hearing the Dugan case is liberal Lynn Adelman. He already postponed indefinitely Dugan’s sentencing, which was scheduled for yesterday. He’ll shoehorn her case into the Virginia case, and set aside the jury’s verdict. She’s likely to go free. That’s the liberal way, and I predict it will be on full display.
Chris Conley
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