MILWAUKEE — A federal case against Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan is set for trial on December 15. Dugan is charged with allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest by federal agents.
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Jurors will be asked to decide if Dugan acted within her judicial role or went outside her duties when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at the Milwaukee courthouse in April. But they may also be questioned about their political views.
"We're ready for trial," said Jason Luczak, one of Dugan's defense lawyers.
Dugan's defense team and federal government lawyers are now preparing to take this high-profile case to a jury. The trial starts Dec. 15, but a pivotal moment begins a week prior when both sides pick a jury.
"What we're doing is we're trying to find a way to pick a jury in a fair way so that the judge can have a fair trial and the government can have a fair trial too," Luczak said.
Watch: TMJ4's Charles Benson discusses upcoming Dugan trial with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's John Diedrich
Dugan's team wants to explore jurors' political views. The case has drawn national attention from the Trump administration, with social media posts from Attorney General Pam Bondi about Dugan's arrest and from FBI Director Kash Patel with a photo of Dugan's arrest and the caption "No one is above the law," with 38 million views.
"It's all about getting to political beliefs. I mean, it's really not about water bottle stickers. It's about what are you coming in, what lens do you view the world from, and we're trying to understand that and we're not making any assumptions about people based on those," Luczak said.
Federal prosecutors will also have their own set of questions for jurors, but not at the same level of detail on political views as the defense. The final questionnaire form will eventually be decided by Judge Lynn Adelman.
Dugan's legal team decided to go forward with a trial after losing on a motion to dismiss the case on grounds of judicial immunity. Judge Adelman rejected that motion. An appeal could have taken months, and the defense says, for now, they will not appeal.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
