On Thursday, a Massachusetts district court judge who was indicted in April on charges she obstructed justice by allegedly helping an illegal immigrant escape from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) filed a motion to have her $181,000 annual salary reinstated.
Shelley Joseph, who faces up to 20 years in prison, according to The Boston Globe, was suspended without pay by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court after the federal indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury on April 25. The court stated, “This Order is based solely on the fact that a sitting judge has been indicted for alleged misconduct in the performance of her judicial duties. It in no way reflects any opinion on the merits of the pending criminal case. The Code of Judicial Conduct prohibits all judges from making ‘any statement that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness of a matter pending or impending in any Massachusetts court,” according to MassLive.
Federal prosecutors stated that in March 2018, ICE issued an immigration detainer against Jose Medina-Perez, an illegal immigrant who was already a fugitive from justice in a Pennsylvania drunk driving case. Newton, Massachusetts police arrested Medina-Perez on drug charges, prompting the ICE detainer. When a plainclothes ICE agent appeared at Newton District Court to apprehend Medina-Perez, according to federal prosecutors, Joseph ordered the agent to exit the courtroom and instructed that the courtroom recorder be turned off while she conversed with the defense attorney and an Assistant District Attorney regarding the detainer.
A transcript revealed Joseph inquiring, “ICE is gonna get him?” Prosecutors allege that following the conversation, Joseph ordered Medina-Perez released without bail, told Trial Court Officer Wesley MacGregor to take Medina-Perez to the downstairs lockup, all while the ICE agent was prevented from entering the courtroom. MacGregor allegedly permitted Medina-Perez to escape.
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