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The Massachusetts judge, accused of helping an illegal immigrant to escape from a police and immigration officer, pleaded not guilty to all counts of indictment.
Judge Shelley Mr. Richmond Joseph, a judge at the Newton District Court, appeared Thursday in the US District Court in Boston, where she was brought to justice for obstruction of justice following an incident that would have occurred on April 2, 2018.
RELATED: A MASSACHUSETTS JUDGE HELPING TO STOP THE ICE OF EVASION OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, FEDERAL AUTHORITIES
Prosecutors said Thursday in court documents that Joseph, along with 56-year-old justice officer Wesley MacGregor, had helped Jose Medina-Perez, a clandestine immigrant expelled twice with a fugitive warrant for drunkenness in Pennsylvania. According to MassLive.com, he appeared in court on drug charges.
The authorities claimed that Joseph had asked an immigration officer in the courtroom to leave and announced that Medina-Perez would be released in the courthouse hall. But after the hearing, MacGregor took him to the basement and a back door, said Massachusetts District Attorney Andrew Lelling.
Medina-Perez, who had been barred from entering the United States until 2027, was arrested by immigration officers about a month after the hearing, Lelling said. and is currently waiting for immigration.
Joseph and MacGregor have both been charged with obstructing justice, complicity; obstruction of federal proceedings, complicity and conspiracy to obstruct justice. MacGregor has also been charged with perjury before a federal grand jury.
Andrew Lelling, Massachusetts District Attorney General, Thursday announced charges against Newton, Massachusetts, Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and a former justice officer for obstruction of justice.
(AP)
MacGregor also pleaded not guilty to all counts Thursday.
The Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, said in a statement that the "indictment" constitutes a radical and politically motivated attack on our state and the independence of our courts.
"Our basic constitutional principle is that federal prosecutors must not interfere in the slightest risk in the functioning of state courts and their administration of justice," she said. "This case could have been handled appropriately by the Judicial Conduct Committee and the Court of First Instance, and I am deeply disappointed by the misuse of prosecutorial resources by US Attorney Andrew Lelling and the crippling effects of his acts. "
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Lelling said the charges were not supposed to send a message on immigration policy. He stated that he "had heard the occasional sorrow of consternation or outrage at the idea of holding a judge responsible for the violation of the federal law (…) but if the law does not Is not applied in the same way, it can not be credibly applied to anyone. "
Both Joseph, suspended without pay, and MacGregor were released after Thursday's hearing. No date has been set for their next court appearance.
Katherine Lam of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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