Government rests as critical witnesses clash on key claim against Judge Dugan
Feds claim Judge Dugan tried to help Eduardo Flores-Ruiz escape arrest, but his lawyer just contradicted their central theory about the alleged plan.
This story is part of ongoing All Rise News live coverage of Judge Dugan’s trial in Milwaukee.
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. (ARN) — The government rested its case against Judge Hannah Dugan on Wednesday with a series of critical witnesses who contradicted each other on one of the prosecution’s core allegations.
On April 18, Dugan led undocumented immigrant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz and his public defender Mercedes de la Rosa out of her courtroom through a jury door into a restricted hallway. The government claims that Dugan wanted de la Rosa and her client to take a secret stairwell out of the courthouse, avoiding arresting agents waiting in the public hallway outside of the courtroom.
When called as a government witness, however, de la Rosa said that Judge Dugan personally directed her and her client toward the public hallway.
“I kind of felt direction-wise that it was toward the public hallway,” de la Rosa said.
Testimony from Joan Butz, the court reporter assigned to Dugan’s courtroom that day, suggested that might not have been the plan.
“Go down the hallway”
Prosecutors say that Dugan actually wanted de la Rosa and her client to turn left toward the staircase, but that proposition took a hit during the prosecution’s direct examination.
De la Rosa recalled Dugan telling her: “Go down the hallway, and go out.”
The secret stairwell would have required her and her client to turn left.
Dugan’s attorney Steven Biskupic hammered home the point on cross-examination.
“Did anyone tell you to go downstairs?” Biskupic asked.
“No,” de la Rosa replied.
Before Flores-Ruiz’s arrest, de la Rosa said she wasn’t aware that there was a stairwell. She was new to the public defender’s office, and she said it was her first time in the hallway.
“Did anyone communicate to you that there were stairs?” Biskupic asked.
“No,” de la Rosa answered.
“Did she ever indicate that you should turn left?”
“No.”
When asked whether she made any effort to run or flee from the hallway, de la Rosa quickly said “no,” laughed slightly, then added: “I’m not good at running.”
De la Rosa described feeling “a little freaked out” and disoriented, although she said that Dugan never mentioned that agents had a warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.
“It was Good Friday, and I hadn’t had any coffee or food that day,” she said.
De la Rosa’s client Flores-Ruiz, the only other witness to the encounter, speaks only Spanish and was deported to Mexico in November.
“The door that doesn’t lead downstairs”
At the start of trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander played an audio recording of Dugan and Butz discussing where to lead de la Rosa and Flores-Ruiz out of the courtroom through the jury door and the hallway. Dugan can be heard saying “down the stairs,” and there is a reference to “the wrong door.”
“What’s the wrong door?” prosecutor Kelly Brown Watzka asked.
“The door that doesn’t lead downstairs,” Butz replied.
The first line that the jury heard during opening statements quoted Dugan in the audio file.
“I’ll do it… I’ll take the heat,” Dugan said.
Butz replied that she would rather get in trouble.
Dugan’s defense estimated that they would call up to four witnesses on Thursday morning. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman told jurors to expect closing arguments that afternoon.
Look out for a live stream with former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner at 5:30 p.m. Central Time (6:30 ET).
Many thanks, Adam!
Thank you for being there and reporting what happened Adam.