Newton Judge Helped Man Escape ICE: Feds

NEWTON, MA — District Judge Shelley Joseph pleaded not guilty Thursday to three federal obstruction charges, after authorities say she helped a man set for deportation escape federal immigration agents. Joseph and court officer Wesley MacGregor were accused of allowing the man to escape through a backdoor at the Newton court to evade U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges, and were released with conditions.

"We did not bring this case in response to the debate of immigration enforcement, this is not a policy seminar," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said during a press conference ahead of the arraignment. "At the end of the day, the case is about rule of law."

In March 2018, Newton police arrested Jose Medina-Perez on drug charges and a fugitive warrant for drunken driving in Pennsylvania. He showed up in court the following month, as did a plainclothes ICE agent, who let the judge know he was there waiting to detain Medina-Perez.

According to court documents, Joseph, 51, of Natick, directed the courtroom clerk to tell the ICE officer to wait outside in the lobby, saying that if Medina-Perez was released, he would come through that door.

Later that afternoon, the audio recording captured Joseph, the defense attorney and the ADA speaking about the defendant and the ICE detainer. According to court documents, Joseph then ordered the courtroom clerk to turn off the audio recorder — which it was for just under a minute, which is a violation of District Court rules.

According to court documents, the defense attorney asked to speak with Medina-Perez downstairs, Joseph let them and had MacGregor escort the attorney and an interpreter downstairs to the lockup and used his security access card to open the rear door and let man go at 3:01 p.m.

Joseph walked into the federal courtroom in Boston wearing a black dress and holding her husband's hand, having turned herself in, but MacGregor entered the court handcuffed wearing a Celtics T-shirt. Although the Department of Justice had offered the opportunity for them both to turn themselves in without arrest, somehow the Watertown police who found MacGregor missed the memo.

MacGregor, 56, of Watertown, was also charged with perjury and accused of falsely testifying before a federal grand jury on July 12 last year that he didn't know ICE was in the courthouse.

He pleaded not guilty to the three counts of obstruction and one count of perjury.

A representative of the defense lawyers' group has questioned the appropriateness of the investigation. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court previously ruled that State Trial Court employees cannot detain individuals on behalf of ICE.

Said Lelling, "The allegations in today's indictment involve obstruction by a sitting judge, that is intentional interference with the enforcement of federal law, and that is a crime. We cannot pick and choose the federal laws we follow, or use our personal views to justify violating the law."

The probe into whether the judge broke any laws comes amid a dance between state and municipalities concerned about immigration rights and federal officials who have been instructed to crack down on undocumented immigrants.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2017 that police could not keep an immigrant in custody for only immigration violation. Newton, as with Boston and several other surrounding communities, declared itself a sanctuary city that will not help ICE round up undocumented residents.

Medina-Perez was arrested again in Massachusetts about a month later and is currently going through the deportation process, according to Lelling.

"When we as officers of the law are confronted with an abuse within our system, we take those allegations seriously," said Peter Fitzhugh, an ICE special agent in Boston.

Watch the press conference here:

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Read the indictment against Shelley Joseph and Wesley MacGregor:

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).