Hearing held for judge accused of allowing immigrant to escape ICE
custody
[June 10, 2025]
By MICHAEL CASEY
BOSTON (AP) — A hearing began Monday for a Massachusetts judge facing
civil charges over allegations that she allowed an immigrant in her
court to evade an immigration enforcement agent.
The case stems from a 2018 incident in which Shelley Joseph, a district
court judge, is accused of colluding with the immigrant’s attorney and a
court officer to allow him escape out a back door of the courthouse
after a hearing on charges that included drug possession. An Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officer had been waiting outside the courtroom
to detain the defendant, Jose Medina-Perez.
“This case is about the integrity, impartiality and independence of the
Massachusetts judiciary and the appearance of the integrity,
impartiality and independence every judge must uphold,” Judith
Fabricant, special counsel for the commission, told the hearing.
A lawyer for Joseph, Elizabeth Mulvey, said the case had been distorted
over time and that everyone had come to believe that her client “let an
illegal immigrant out of the door" with half of those people believing
she should be jailed and the other half calling her a “folk hero.”
She argued Joseph had been vilified in the media and people were giving
the impression that “dozens of people” had seen Joseph “get off the
bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug and wish him god
speed.”
“Today in this court room and we are going to have opportunity to hear
all the evidence,” Mulvey said.
The case is similar to a Milwaukee judge accused in April of helping a
man evade immigration authorities. The case has escalated a clash
between the Trump administration and local authorities over the
Republican president’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of
escorting the man and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury
door after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his
arrest. The man was taken into custody outside the courthouse after
agents chased him on foot.
In the Massachusetts case, federal obstruction of justice charges
against Joseph were dropped in 2022 after she agreed to refer herself to
a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of
the bench. That agency, the Commission on Judicial Conduct, concluded
last year that Joseph “engaged in willful judicial misconduct that
brought the judicial office into disrepute, as well as conduct
prejudicial to the administration of justice and unbecoming a judicial
officer.”
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District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph departs federal
court, April 25, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, file)
Denis McInerney, the hearing officer assigned to the case by the
Supreme Judicial Court, said he will hear the evidence and then make
a recommendation afterward based on whether he find Joseph violated
the Massachusetts Code of Judicial Conduct. The hearing is expected
to last about a week.
Much of the first day was dominated by the first witness, lawyer
David Jellinek, who told the court he had been hired that day to
represent Medina-Perez and had been granted immunity by federal
prosecutors. Along with the drug charges, Medina-Perez was in court
on a warrant out of Pennsylvania.
After doing some research, Jellinek believed his client wasn't the
same person wanted on the warrant. “I was worried they were going to
take a US citizen into custody,” he told the court. “I was quite
concerned for my client.”
Jellinek failed to convince the ICE agent that they had the “wrong
guy" so he came up with a plan to release Medina-Perez out the back
door.
Fabricant argued that Joseph signal her approval for the plan -
including an off the record conversation during a side bar — when
she appeared sympathetic to Jellinek's desire for his client to
avoid ICE.
But another attorney for Joseph, Thomas Hoopes, suggest that
Jellinek might have misinterpreted Joseph's comments when she raised
the possibility that Medina-Perez could be detained, rather than be
released. The prosecutor had agreed Medina-Perez wasn't the man
wanted in Pennsylvania and moved to drop the fugitive from justice
charge. She also wasn't seeking bail on the drug charges so he was
free to go.
Much will hinge on what was said during that off the record
conversation, which lasted only 52 seconds and is being disputed by
both sides.
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