The trial of Judge Hannah Dugan actually got started last Thursday with jury selection, but today the two sides have made opening statements and one witness has already testified. I think most readers are probably familiar with the case already so I won’t go through it again. Instead, I’ll just cover the arguments being made in court.
The trial began with an opening statement from prosecutor Keith Alexander who began his remarks by quoting Judge Dugan.
He began with a quote – “I’ll do it. I’ll get the heat” – that prosecutors said came from Dugan.
Alexander set the scene at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on April 18 – the arrival of Flores-Ruiz, and the “routine events” of federal agents. He said court unfolded in a “typical” way until Dugan’s clerk alerted her that I.C.E. was in the hallway outside the courtroom. He pointed to Dugan’s stance on whether to notify the chief judge and her involving a fellow judge at the time.
Alexander said Dugan called the undocumented man’s case earlier than intended once she learned of the federal agents’ presence. He also said that the parties in the courtroom discussed the option of the man leaving down the stairs and directed the man and his attorney to a non-public hallway, where there was a stairwell that would have led them out of the building – though they did not go down the stairs.
Alexander made clear in his opening statement that Judge Dugan was free to have her own opinion about ICE and their arrests of migrants. What she was not free to do was interfere in those arrests.
Prosecutor Keith Alexander said Dugan was allowed to have strong views about the Trump administration’s immigration policy, but not to attempt to thwart federal agents.
“Those strongly held views motivated her to make a decision to cross the line,” Alexander told the jury during his opening statement.
The defense’s opening statement came from attorney Steven Biskupic.
Defense Attorney Steve Biskupic began his opening statement noting the distance – 11 feet, 10 inches – between the main courtroom exit and the door Flores-Ruiz exited with his attorney, as well as how long Dugan spoke to the federal agents in the hallway outside her courtroom…
The defense attorney then broke down a timeline of “upheaval” over the preceding weeks and months as it related to a change in the presidential administration and policies regarding I.C.E. at courthouses. He said changes led to “anger, confusion, and even paranoia” about what those changes meant for the Milwaukee County Courthouse and its judges.
This is the core of the argument in this case. The defense is claiming that the non-public hallway that Flores-Ruiz and his attorney were ushered out led to the same 6th floor main hallway as the public door of the courtroom. In fact, those doors were only 12 feet apart.
As I detailed here, the prosecution will argue that there were two doors in that non-public hallway. One led to the main hallway but the other led to the stairs. The plan was clearly for Flores-Ruiz and his attorney to exit by the stairs, avoiding the main hallway completely. We know that because there is a recording of what was said in the courtroom. Judge Dugan specifically mentioned them going “down the stairs.“
According to the government’s filing, Dugan returned to her courtroom, quickly handled Flores-Ruiz’s case and told his attorney, Mercedes de la Rosa, to escort him “out of the jury door and ‘down the stairs.'”…
A person in the courtroom, who is not identified, asked Dugan, “You want me to show them? I don’t think she (the attorney, de la Rosa) knows. She might go out the wrong door,” the filing says.
By the “wrong door,” the person later explained to the FBI, he or she meant the door that leads out to the main corridor, according to prosecutors.
According to the government’s filing, Dugan responded, “I’ll do it. I’ll get the heat.” Dugan then led de la Rosa and Flores-Ruiz to the hallway, marked as 615-1…
The court’s bailiff told FBI agents that the hallway is used by court staff, jury members and deputies escorting in-custody defendants. “Defense attorneys and defendants who are not in custody never used the jury door” to that hallway, the bailiff told agents, according to the criminal complaint.
Dugan pointed Flores-Ruiz and de la Rosa down the hallway, but de la Rosa “was not aware of the entrance to the stairs and walked straight ahead” and into the main corridor, the government filings say.
In other words, Flores-Ruiz’s attorney led them out the wrong door. And because one member of the arrest team had remained in the hallway (which Dugan had attempted to clear) Flores-Ruiz was spotted and eventually arrested. Had his attorney used the door to the stairs, as Judge Dugan intended, he would not have been spotted leaving the building.
The first person to testify at trial today, after opening statements, was FBI Special Agent Erin Lucker:
She…walked jurors through the layout of Dugan’s courtroom and how the courtroom accesses a “restricted” hallway that leads to a public stairwell and the public hallway. She testified that nobody can enter that restricted hallway from the public hallway without a key…
According to Lucker’s testimony…Dugan had called another case when Freed interrupted and informed Dugan that “five I.C.E. guys” were in the hallway…
Video showed Dugan and a fellow Judge Kirstela Cervera walking in the public hallway wearing their judicial robes. Lucker said she had never before seen judges in their robes in the public hallway…
The public defender, who had alerted the court that Dugan was “confronting them,” was seen in the video making a “fist pump” gesture.
Dugan approached Judge Cervera and asked her to accompany her when confronting the arrest team. Judge Cervera started to remove her black robe and Judge Dugan reportedly told her to leave it on. Judges usually are not seen wearing their robes outside of court. In this case is seems clear Judge Dugan wanted to impress her authority on the arrest team. As for the fist pump by the public defender, I think that explains the politics behind this stunt.
After a break for lunch, the trial resumed with Lucker still on the stand. Outside the courthouse there is a protest being held.
Milwaukee stands in solidarity with Judge Dugan as her trial begins today. ✊ Our courts must be places of judicial independence, not intimidation and ICE raids.
Keep ICE out of our courts.
Keep ICE out of our communities.
Free Judge Dugan. pic.twitter.com/bQHwz5nyFG— Our Wisconsin Revolution (@OurWisconsinRev) December 15, 2025
This is just the start. I’ll be keeping an eye on this all week. It’s still early but so far there are no real surprises in the case.
Editor’s Note: Unelected federal judges are hijacking President Trump’s agenda and insulting the will of the people.
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