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Judge Shelley Joseph was cleared of misconduct in the 2018 incident, but faces a public reprimand for creating an “appearance of impropriety.”
A Massachusetts judge who was federally charged with helping a migrant evade ICE arrest should receive a public reprimand, according to a hearing officer who found that she was unaware of the escape plan.
In a 117-page report released Thursday by the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct, state hearing officer Denis J. McInerney recommended a public reprimand for Newton Judge Shelley Joseph, finding she didn’t authorize a defendant’s April 2018 evasion from ICE, but created an appearance of impropriety in the case.
The man’s lawyer admitted that the escape plan was his idea, but stated that Joseph was on board with the scheme. However, in his report, McInerney said he found insufficient evidence to support the allegation, writing, “I find that Judge Joseph did not know about — much less authorize — the escape plan, and did not mislead court authorities following the incident. However, I find that she inadvertently created the appearance of impropriety and bias ….”
McInerney said Joseph created that impression during her interactions with attorneys at the arraignment and by unintentionally violating a court rule when she allowed an off-the-record discussion about ICE’s plans to detain the defendant.
“I therefore recommend that she receive a reprimand,” wrote McInerney. “Moreover, because this proceeding has been public, and to ensure that there is no misunderstanding as to what Judge Joseph is — and is not — being reprimanded for, I recommend that the reprimand be public.”
In 2019, Joseph and a court officer were federally charged with obstruction of justice on allegations that they let Jose Medina-Perez, a Dominican national who has been deported twice, sneak out a back door of Newton District Courthouse after a hearing on drug and fugitive from justice charges.
At the time, the charges led to her suspension from the bench. Federal prosecutors dropped the charges in 2022 when Joseph agreed to refer herself to the state agency for an investigation of misconduct.
At the end of his report, McInerney wrote that Joseph “is a thoughtful, diligent, and conscientious judge undeserving of the harsh public criticism she has received in connection with this matter, and entirely worthy of the opportunity to finally move on from it.”
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