Massachusetts District Court Judge Shelley Joseph, knowing that an Immigration Officer was waiting to take custody of an illegal alien on trial in her court, helped the suspect escape. She was arrested on federal charges which she has tried to have thrown out. That’s not happening.
Related: Massachusetts Judge Who helped Illegal Alien Escape ICE – Refuses Plea Deal
The defendants have moved to dismiss the conspiracy and obstruction charges pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3), the doctrine of judicial immunity, and the Fifth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution. In their view, the Indictment fails as a matter of law to allege the elements necessary to establish a crime under the relevant obstruction statutes, and the government’s attempt to extend those statutes to the conduct described in the Indictment raises constitutional and other serious legal concerns.
She is claiming some sort of judicial exception. That she made a lawful decision not to assist ICE in “administering federal immigration law” as part of the management of her courtroom. “… Joseph [suggests she] engaged in only “lawful and discretionary acts” and “did not ‘affirmatively impede’ anything” ….”
In advancing these arguments, Joseph and MacGregor lose sight of the governing legal standard. Each of the first three Counts in the Indictment alleges the elements of the charged offense by invoking the relevant statutory language, and provides sufficient factual detail to “notify the defendant[s] of the nature of the accusation against [them] and to apprise the court of the facts alleged,” Nothing more is required at this stage of the prosecution.
She is a Judge, and I’m sure she has a decent lawyer, so this was always a hail Mary pass that could not connect. The Assistant US Attorney had their ducks in a row when they filed the charges, so the motion was dismissed. Joseph, who is (I believe) still collecting her taxpayer-funded salary, will try something else to stall or evade responsibility for her actions.
Typical of a leftist. Laws for other people and subject to their convenience.
Talk about the last possible set of values you’d expect or want from a sitting District Court Judge. If I were sentenced in her courtroom for anything, I’d be calling my lawyer. She’s clearly compromised.
