BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts on Thursday issued a public reprimand against a district court judge who was accused of allowing an immigrant to escape U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
The case dates back to 2018 when Judge Shelley Joseph was accused of colluding with the immigrant's attorney and a court officer to allow him to escape out a back door of the courthouse after a hearing on charges that included drug possession.
The decision by the Supreme Judicial Court follows a recommendation for the reprimand by a hearing officer for the Commission on Judicial Conduct. It concluded that Joseph created the appearance of impropriety and failed to comply with the law.
"The respondent's statements during that conversation, including her proposal to detain (the immigrant) overnight in State custody, and her conduct in instructing the clerk to turn off the court room audio recording system, created an appearance of impropriety in violation of her duties," according to the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
Joseph's attorney, Elizabeth Mulvey, argued at the commission hearing last year that the case had been distorted over time and that everyone had come to believe that her client "let an illegal immigrant out of the door" with half the public believing she should be jailed and the other half calling her a "folk hero."

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