Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering

Judge Indicted For Allegedly Aiding Illegal Immigrant Evade Arrest by ICE

We previously discussed the controversy surrounding Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph who allegedly helped an illegal immigrant evade ICE agents in April 2018. Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting and obstruction of a federal proceeding.

Medina-Perez was arrested by Newton police on drug charges and faced a fugitive warrant for drunken driving in Pennsylvania and a detainer from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  ICE was at the courthouse to execute the detainer and the defense counsel David Jellinek is heard on an audiotape saying “ICE will pick him up if he walks out the front door.”  Joseph reportedly told his counsel “ICE is going to get him.” She then suggested “What if we continue [the case]?” and then instructed a clerk to turn off the courtroom’s audio recorder.

All such proceedings must be recorded and the order to turn off the recorder is not just a violation of that rule but shows a level of premeditation on her part to assist in the effort to evade ICE.  The indictment recounts how:

“Immediately following the proceeding, defendant MACGREGOR escorted A.S. from the Courtroom downstairs to the lockup, accompanied by the Defense Attorney and an interpreter. Once inside the lockup, defendant MACGREGOR used his security access card to open the rear sally-port exit and released A.S. out the back door at approximately 3:01 p.m.”

All the time, the ICE agent was waiting as instructed outside of the courtroom expecting Medina-Perez. Indeed, MacGregor is also charged with perjury for falsely testifying before a federal grand jury in stating that, prior to releasing the defendant from the sally-port exit, he was unaware that ICE agents were in the Courthouse and that there was a detainer for the defendant.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has denounced the charges:

“Today’s indictment is a radical and politically-motivated attack on our state and the independence of our courts. It is a bedrock principle of our constitutional system that federal prosecutors should not recklessly interfere with the operation of state courts and their administration of justice. This matter could have been appropriately handled by the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Trial Court. I am deeply disappointed by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s misuse of prosecutorial resources and the chilling effect his actions will have.”

Judge Joseph is a graduate of New England School of Law and Boston College who worked as an assistant attorney general in the Family and Community Crimes Bureau. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at New England School of Law and Massachusetts School of Law as well as a former member of the Democratic State Committee.

Here is the indictment: Joseph indictment

92 thoughts on “Judge Indicted For Allegedly Aiding Illegal Immigrant Evade Arrest by ICE”

  1. be careful you make a martyr out of this judge and it will become a rallying point– on unfavorable ground!

  2. So sorry if some officer feels frustrated. But harming a snowflake’s feelz is not a crime. Nor are “iniquities.” Those are called sins.

  3. This matter could have been appropriately handled by the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Trial Court.

    What actions did the Mass. AG and/or the Commission on Judicial Conduct take since the April 2019 incident to demonstrate they were handling anything?

    Does this automatically become the feds jurisdiction because it involved ICE?

    1. OLLY:

      “Does this automatically become the feds jurisdiction because it involved ICE?”
      *******************

      Anytime a federal officer or federal right is involved, the federal courts have jurisdiction.

      1. Thanks Mark. So what the AG said may be true, but that is only if the feds give it to them to handle. Is that about right?

        1. OLLY:
          Well it’s really the case of two separate sovereigns each of whom may charge or process a case independently. The state can refuse to prosecute and handle the matter administratively for state offenses but that won’t hinder the feds from bringing federal charges for the exact same conduct. In this case, the AG wanted a slap on the wrist but the feds wanted the wrist itself. Happened all the time in 60s South where state prosecutors looked the other way on white on black crime but the feds came in to meet out some justice for the same conduct.

  5. Look at news media and court records to see if the State has ever prosecuted someone for assisting a jailed person, felon, or person accused of crime of escaping. Any prison guards ever do that? Then sentence the judge accordingly.

  6. Activist judges are destroying our country, just as are the liberal Supremes. Judges ae supposed to judge based on the law and the merits of a case. When activist judges take the law into their own hands they damage our Constitution.

  7. What happened to my comment here?? I know it posted about a half hour ago. Then it mysteriously disappeared. It was totally on subject and there was no profanity.

    1. ha ha ha

      Same thing happened to me yesterday. Darren be messing with our heads.

      1. I used the word p!ss and the word pe£ in my comment the other day and was deleted. I’m not sure which word offended Darren. Sorry, Darren. 🤣

  8. This is Great news. Finally these unlawful and activist judges are being made to actually follow the law that they swore to uphold.

  9. Don’t worry, sweet, tolerant liberals a jury will never convict them! They are heroes to you guys! Just like people who block abortion clinics or a baker who refuses to make a cake for a sodomite “wedding”, right?

    And I am waiting for the good professor to be called “Nazi” for calling this precious undocumented soul an “illegal” alien. In 20 years calling one such will be a hate crime punishable by law.

    antonio

    1. In certain states lawyers have been disciplined for even using the phrase “illegal alien” …. even when it was relevant to the proceedings. a very bad trend for attorney free speech and the justice interests of represented persons. these cases have emerged from divorce contexts

  10. I think it’s unfortunate that the bailiff is on the docket. He wasn’t doing his job, but he was trying to navigate a situation.

    As for her, she needs to do time. The arrogance of the judiciary never ceases to amaze. I’m assuming that the other member of the guild who gets her case will do whatever he can to see to it she skates. Ditto the disciplinary panels.

    1. I don’t know if a “Trial Court Officer” in Mass is akin to a security guard and thus an employee of the court, or is an independent law enforcement officer. In CA, it would be a Sheriff’s Deputy assigned to the court, and he would be completely independent of the judge and have a different reporting authority. The distinction should be a significant factor in MacGregor’s defense.

      1. Not sure what the rules were where I used to work. My impression was that the deputies in the Court Security division were seconded to the Unified Court System and under the authority of the Administrative Judge. Of course, like everyone, they are under the authority of the presiding officer in the court when they’re in the courtroom. If that prevails there, he gets out of the courtroom, he has other obligations. As a practical matter, though, he’d have to navigate the politics of the situation and decide what to do then and there. His assessment is going to depend on his understanding of the dispositions of the Administrative Judge, the Sheriff, and the favor-banking between the two.

        Alternatives to Court Security would be the Civil division (evictions & levies), the Jail division (I think a separate hiring and promotion cone, so maybe not), and the Patrol division (suburban / exurban police work). I had a feeling that the guys in the Court Security were there because they were on the downward slide to retirement or they were underperformers generally. The Sheriff was p.o’d to discover ca. 1991 that they had the highest rate of sick calls of the four divisions.

        Still, hourly employee of the courts. My homies, FWIW.

    2. TIA:
      If you read the indictment and the grand jury transcript therein, you’ll see MacGregor was no innocent bystander negotiating a maze but an active participant in the scam and cover-up. Allegedly, of course .

      1. I realize that. I also realize she put a dilemma in front of him.

        1. I understand your point DSS and it’s a dilemma we see evidence of on this blog daily. Bastiat said: When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

          Assuming many of this blog’s participants are legal professionals of some kind, this blog seems to function as a safe space for these folks to play outside of the law. And because there doesn’t seem to be a common definition for morality, arguments in support of the rule of law tend to be dismissed by ‘moral’ arguments rooted in one’s worldview.

          And so when we see this same attitude carried out in the courts, we get the situation with the Mass. case and this case in Chicago:
          https://www.fox32chicago.com/amp/news/local/judge-accuses-kim-foxx-s-office-of-double-standard-after-jussie-smollett-case

        2. She did but she’s not the last word. He could have refused and gone to the chief judge for guidance. Joseph’s dictatorship only extends to the threshold of her courtroom.

  11. A chilling effect? Good. What is needed is an absolute deep-freeze for these activist stupid sobs that toward Federal Law. Hopefully, every other judge in America has seen what is happened here and will act accordingly.

    As for the AG stating that this could’ve been handled internally, sure it could have. And nothing would’ve been done in terms of punishment. This way, the country will start to understand that things are changing.

  12. All such proceedings must be recorded and the order to turn off the recorder is not just a violation of that rule but shows a level of premeditation on her part to assist in the effort to evade ICE.

    Just what rule is that? Lawyers and judges go off the record all the time. It happens every day, in courtrooms across the country.

    1. Not true. They have conversations the jury/spectators can’t hear but the court reporter or audio tape runs during those conversations.

      1. A sidebar is on the record but away from the jury.

        Off the record means off the record and it is a common practice. If you ever meet a lawyer who’s spent any significant time in court, just ask.

    2. We call that a sidebar. And, it’s usually done so a jury will not be privy to the conversation, as it’s not evidence.

    3. fiver:

      ” Lawyers and judges go off the record all the time. It happens every day, in courtrooms across the country.”
      ************************
      You have a keen grasp of the immaterial if not the irrelevant. When lawyers and judges “go off the record” to frustrate an officer of the federal government in the performance of his duties and in order to hide that iniquity, we call that “a crime.”

  15. Mass AG has no understanding of justice as is clear by her statement. And I’d like to ask how she feels about federal involvement in other aspects of life. She is a hypocrite, as are judge Joseph and the court employee. However, they are both criminals who were caught aiding and abetting a criminal and endangering the American public by their behavior. I hope Turley agrees because I don’t see any indictment of this vigilante behavior by the Judge and court employee in this piece.

  16. How about David Jellydick didn’t he conspire with the judge to evade the law? Now it’s time to go after those politicians who declare “sanctuaries” for illegals. Have you noticed how some of the left wingers are beginning to talk about the crisis at the border?

  17. Anyone who deliberately thwarts the efforts of law enforcement officials from doing their job to protect the community has no place on the bench. Judges are supposed to be impartial and objective, however in this case, the judge became an activist choosing the side of a criminal alien that needed to be removed by lawful, statutory means. At a minimum, she needs to be permanently be removed from the bench. Also, I find it hilarious that AG Healey, my AG by the way, fires off a protest to US Attorney Lelling claiming that the matter should have been handled by the state, however when other such instances of judicial conduct occurred, she has done nothing, and Lelling knows it.

  18. A “chilling effect” is exactly what we need with regard to this type of activity and also with regard to the entire concept of sanctuary cities.

  19. Silly, woke Maura Healey. Indictments are precisely designed to chill all manner of illegal conduct. As for interfering with the operation of state courts, I’d say this particular court could use some interfering since Judge Shelly Richmond Joseph appears to be both a felon and a liar. Finally it serves this bastion of yankee Independence right for no appreciation of country music and what happens when you “mess with big John Law, son.”
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4VieqTa6NbQ

    1. Thou shalt capitalize Yankee, son, or suffer the consequences of your own musical appreciation.

      1. I’ll bet this verse is Mespo’s favorite part from the Dropkick Murphys tune:

        Suburban anarchists who’ve never broke the law
        Sing about police oppression, but they’ve never met John Law
        He doesn’t f*** with young kids drinking in the Park
        But he makes the city safe for women after dark

          1. I’ll give you a link. But that’s all you get from me until you capitalize Yankee at least once. There are no lyrics available for the Buck Owens rendition.

            Dropkick Murphys – John Law Lyrics | AZLyrics.com

            https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dropkickmurphys/johnlaw.html

            Lyrics to “John Law” song by Dropkick Murphys: Now let me tell you about a man named John Law He’s a neighborhood cop, the toughest man I ever saw…

  20. As I read this story, I was of two minds. On the one hand, I was reminded of the defendant in Judgement at Nuremberg who was a famous judge who did nothing to stop the Nazis because what they did was “lawful” and on the other hand I was discouraged that the Judge couldn’t figure out a better way to handle this. The court officer is now in big trouble and that I think was unfair of the Mudge to put him in the position that made him criminally liable.

    It is a conundrum when one arm of the government decides to act in a way in which some find disturbing and possibly ultimately unlawful.

    1. No worries, Justice Holmes. The federal judge will have no such conundrum at sentencing. Aiding the felon in escaping ought to get you 2-3 years of contemplative rehabilitation and loss of your law license.

        1. Thou art disordered with an inordinate desire to proselytize. As such, thou art a proselytizing glutton.

        2. : … the irony of mespo advocating contemplation is not lost.”
          *********************
          Pisshaw. I was doing novenas and hours-long, full kneeling eucharistic adorations wearing hot wool cassocks in empty un-airconditioned churches when you were in diapers. The unexamined life may not be worth living but just as surely is the unlettered proselytizing one as L4D-Job so succinctly notes. If I wanted to dwell in a space devoid of intelligent minds for hours on end, I’d get Darren’s job. He must be a true yogi by now, having to deal with all the white noise he encounters.

          1. … hours-long, full kneeling eucharistic adorations …”

            Hyperbole, methinks.

            1. Anonymous:
              Nope, at Easter Time, our altar boy shifts were three hours with breaks on the hour for five minutes. We could sit back if we were reading our Latin to English laminated altar cards. I learned a lot of Latin that year.

              1. Okay, so one hour of full kneeling; one hour — not “hours.” A five-minute break might not be much but, given your description, it broke up the “hours-long, full kneeling.”

                I’m sure it felt like hours, but come on.

                So yes: Hyperbole.

          2. Mespo said, “If I wanted to dwell in a space devoid of intelligent minds for hours on end, I’d get Darren’s job.”

            I refuse to feel sorry for Mr. Smith. He played a cruel trick on me yesterday with a post from Paul C. Schulte. No True Yogi would do such a thing. Smith is a false yogi. Smith belongs in this penalty box all day long and the nighttime, too.

            1. “He played a cruel trick on me yesterday…”

              Really?

              Are you sure that you weren’t looking at the old linked article?

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