A Massachusetts judge accused of assisting an undocumented immigrant in fleeing federal immigration officers may be removed from her position after a special counsel for the Commission on Judicial Conduct called for her resignation.
Following a week of proceedings, special counsel Judith Fabricant urged the commission to remove Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph from the bench due to the 2018 incident.
The allegations against Joseph are strikingly similar to those facing Milwaukee County Judge Hannah C. Dugan in Wisconsin. Both state judges have been accused of assisting migrants in evading capture by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
While prosecutors indicted Joseph on federal criminal charges related to the 2018 incident during Trump’s first term, the Biden administration dropped those charges in 2022, provided that the judge left herself at the mercy of the professional conduct panel, where she is charged civilly with bringing “disrepute” to the office through “willful judicial misconduct” as well as “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming of a judicial officer.”
Fabricant told the commission on Monday that, as a result of the judge’s actions, Joseph could no longer “command the respect and authority essential to judicial function,” according to the Boston Herald.
According to reports, the special counsel recommended that Joseph be permanently suspended and her case be sent to the state legislature and governor, who can formally remove her from her position as a judge.
The hearings, which began on June 9, were presided over by attorney Denis McInerney, who was appointed “Hearing Officer” by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Fabricant and Joseph’s defense attorney, Thomas Hoopes, concluded the proceedings on Monday with closing arguments.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Joseph is accused of assisting Jose Medina-Perez, an undocumented immigrant who has been deported twice from the United States, in evading federal immigration agents.
Medina-Perez was arrested again in 2018, and as he faced his third deportation in court, an ICE officer arrived to pick him up for possible removal. In the courtroom, debate raged over whether Medina-Perez had been properly identified by ICE.
Finally, at the judge’s direction, a court clerk instructed the ICE officer to wait outside the courtroom while Medina-Perez went downstairs and exited through the courthouse’s rear door.
Joseph has stated that she only sent Medina-Perez downstairs to speak privately with his attorney and was unaware that he had “gone out the back door.”
“She knew nothing about it,” attorney Elizabeth Mulvey reportedly stated, adding that the judge expected ICE to “do its job.”
The case will hinge on a 52-second sidebar that occurred just before Medina-Perez was let out the back door.
Fabricant claims Joseph violated conduct rules by failing to record the sidebar portion of the hearing, so it is unclear what was said during it.
Medina-Perez’s defense attorney, David Jellinek, testified that he requested that the sidebar be kept off the record because the topic of discussion was “right on the edge of acceptable,” according to the Herald.
During the sidebar, Jellinek reportedly asked Joseph to send Medina-Perez to the downstairs courthouse jail so he could avoid federal agents waiting in the first-floor lobby to arrest him.
On Monday, Joseph’s attorney reportedly launched a personal attack on Jellinek, alleging that the attorney “made up” his testimony after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors to avoid criminal charges in the case and was willing to say anything to save his own skin.
“David Jellinek is lying. According to Hoopes, David Jellinek is more than just a liar; he is a criminal who, for some reason, continues to practice his trade. “Not just as a lawyer, but as a liar.”
Both parties will file post-hearing briefs by July 10, and McInerney will submit his recommendation on Joseph’s fate to the commission within 30 days.
