(The Center Square) – There’s a plea offer on the table in Judge Hannah Dugan’s case.
New Interim U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee Brad Schimel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that said he’s been briefed on the case and says there is an offer.
He also told the paper, however, that Dugan’s attorneys have not accepted that offer. Schimel says the two sides continue to negotiate.
Dugan is scheduled to go on trial next month on federal felony charges that accuse her of helping an illegal immigrant avoid ICE agents at the Milwaukee County courthouse in April.
Suspect Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was deported back to Mexico last week, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and had faced charges of strangulation and suffocation, battery and domestic abuse.
“Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a previously removed illegal alien has a laundry list of violent criminal charges, including strangulation and suffocation, battery, and domestic abuse. Judge Hannah Dugan’s actions to obstruct this violent criminal’s arrest take ‘activist judge’ to a whole new meaning,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Schimel is not saying what the plea offer from his office includes.
Schimel is not personally handling the case, other prosecutors in his office are. But Schimel is the new, top federal prosecutor in Milwaukee.
The Trump Administration named Schimel as interim U.S. attorney on Monday. He previously served as Wisconsin attorney general, and as a Waukesha County circuit judge. Backed heavily by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Schimel also ran for Wisconsin Supreme Court in November, but was easily beaten by liberal Susan Crawford to help liberals maintain a majority on the court.
It appears that race kept Schimel from getting a permanent nomination.
Wisconsin’s Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Monday referenced the race in her opposition to Schimel’s new role.
“Brad Schimel was soundly rejected twice by Wisconsinites because they knew he would play politics with the law, not deliver justice fairly for everyone – and he has no business being a top prosecutor in Wisconsin,” Baldwin said in a statement. “As President Trump politicizes our justice system, it is more important than ever that the people serving in the courts and on the bench are committed to upholding the rule of law, not loyalty to the President.”
The Trump Administration ignored Wisconsin’s bipartisan judicial nominating process, and Baldwin did not sign-off on Schimel’s appointment.
“The Trump administration has skirted this law to keep in place other U.S. Attorneys, who were ardent supporters of the President, in place longer than the legally limited 120 days,” she added.
Schimel could be reappointed in 120 days, or he could see an up or down vote in the U.S. Senate.
