Sentencing Scheduled for Hannah Dugan

Judge Hannah Dugan’s courtroom on the sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Photo taken by Graham Kilmer.

Former Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan will be sentenced on July 8 by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman.

Dugan was convicted of one count of federal misdemeanor obstruction of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Dugan was also tried on another count of concealing an individual from arrest but was not convicted.

The charges stemmed from an April 2025 incident at the county courthouse, when agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement agencies came there to arrest an undocumented immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, appearing in Dugan’s courtroom. Dugan spoke to the agents and later let Flores-Ruiz exit her courtroom through a side door.

Dugan tried twice to have her conviction overturned. Initially, Dugan moved for acquittal and a new trial, in part based on the split verdict against her and the evidence presented at trial. Adelman denied the motion. But a ruling in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in April created new case law on the charge of obstruction. Her legal team moved for reconsideration of acquittal, highlighting the recent appeals court decision.

Adelman recently issued a ruling denying the motion, finding too much difference in the facts and circumstances surrounding the case in the appeals court decision and Dugan’s own.

Dugan faces a potential fine or imprisonment of up to five years. She retains the ability to appeal her conviction to a higher court.