The highest court in Massachusetts has publicly reprimanded a district court judge for her conduct in a case where an undocumented immigrant evaded arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the courthouse.
The Supreme Judicial Court's ruling on Thursday addressed actions taken by Judge Shelley Joseph on April 2, 2018. On that date, Jose Medina-Perez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, left the Newton District Court through a rear exit while an ICE officer waited in the lobby to take him into custody.
The court's decision focused on a conversation during which Joseph instructed her clerk to turn off the courtroom's audio recording system. "The respondent's statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain Medina-Perez overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the courtroom audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties," the ruling stated.
Joseph's attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, argued that the judge was unaware of a plan devised by Medina-Perez's attorney to escort his client to the courthouse lockup, where a court officer would then release him through a rear exit to evade ICE. The Supreme Judicial Court found that Joseph neither explicitly nor implicitly approved of this evasion plan.
Medina-Perez was in court for arraignment on a fugitive-from-justice charge from Pennsylvania. Joseph found insufficient evidence to tie Medina-Perez to the Pennsylvania warrant, and the prosecutor recommended he be released on personal recognizance on local drug charges. Joseph then released Medina-Perez.
In April 2019, Joseph and the court officer involved were indicted on obstruction of justice charges. The case was dismissed in 2022 after Joseph agreed to refer herself to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. The commission concluded that Joseph had engaged in misconduct that brought her office into disrepute and was prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Following the federal indictment, Joseph was suspended from the bench for three years. Mulvey stated that the case had been misrepresented in the media and that the federal prosecution was baseless. Joseph, who remains a judge, was assigned to administrative duties in the Boston Municipal Court in December.