Reserve judge to take over caseload for Milwaukee County judge arrested by FBI

A reserve judge is taking over the caseload for Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan following her arrest Friday. Federal agents arrested Judge Dugan on Friday at the courthouse. A 12-page criminal complaint said she escorted defendant Eduardo Flores-Ruiz “through a ‘jury door'” to help him evade immigration agents at the courthouse on April 18. Moments prior, those same court documents said Dugan was “visibly angry” and demanded the agents speak with Chief Judge Carl Ashley. “I can’t have any comment on that. That is a pending litigation,” Ashley said. Ashley spoke on the matter for the first time Monday after bringing in the reserve judge to take over Judge Dugan’s cases. “I think for everybody’s sake right now, we need to wait a little bit, and so having a reserve judge is good for the litigants. It’s good for Judge Dugan. And it’s good for our community, for at least now, for us to see things are going to unfold,” he said. “We’re just taking it step by step.”Online court records show former Judge David Feiss was on the bench in Dugan’s courtroom Monday morning. “I know there’s a backlog in the courthouse right now. Does this impact it at all?” WISN 12 News Hannah Hilyard asked. “Anything that’s a distraction from us doing our work affects that,” Ashley responded. “The fact that this happened is unfortunate, but as it relates to our calendars, that’s something we struggle with everyday.”Agents were able to eventually arrest Flores-Ruiz on April 18. Dugan’s arrest inside the courthouse happened a week later on April 25. Dugan faces two federal charges and a maximum of six years in prison if convicted. She’s expected back in federal court next month.