July 8 (UPI) — A federal judge fined former Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan $5,000 and gave her no jail time or probation Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said prison is not necessary in the case, though federal guidelines call for it. He pointed out her lifetime of service to others, particularly people who are vulnerable or in need.
“This is a person who has done a lot of good for our community,” Adelman said.
He said, “the punishment should fit the offender and not merely the crime,” and added that the guidelines are advisory.
Dugan, 67, was convicted of obstruction for trying to hide an undocumented man from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the courthouse.
She spoke at the sentencing hearing, defending her actions.
“For nine years as a judge I have strived to do my best to uphold justice, to uphold our laws and constitution, to have a courtroom of decorum and safety,” WISN-TV News reported Dugan said. “I worked hard to uphold these duties every day and I had those same intentions on that day.”
“For more than a year, the circumstances of this prosecution have been politicized,” she said before the sentence was announced. “I have been cast as both a scofflaw and a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job.”
She said she was only trying to preserve the “sanctity of our state courthouse.”
She said she hopes to return to public service one day and that “it is with a heavy heart that I am before you as a defendant.”
The guidelines advised 15 to 21 months in prison. Prosecutors had said they wanted a “serious and meaningful sentence.” Dugan’s attorneys asked for time served.
Dugan was arrested by the FBI in April 2025. She resigned from the bench on Jan. 3.
Dugan plans to appeal, but she resigned amid impeachment threats by Wisconsin Assembly Republicans.
“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,” she said in her resignation letter.
Prosecutors said Dugan directed agents away from her court, then led the undocumented man, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, and his attorney through a private jury door. Agents arrested Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse after they chased him on foot.
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