Boston Judge Charged With Assisting Undocumented Immigrant in Avoiding ICE Officer at Courthouse Awaits Hearing

A Boston judge accused of aiding an illegal immigrant in evading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and leaving the courthouse undetected in 2018 is undergoing a misconduct hearing on Monday. 

The judge, Shelley M. Richmond Joseph, faces a civil misconduct charge related to a 2018 event where she allegedly assisted Jose Medina-Perez, a Dominican national deported twice, to exit Newton District Court unnoticed. Medina-Perez, barred from re-entering the U.S. until 2027, had appeared on drug possession and a fugitive warrant from Pennsylvania, with an ICE agent ready to detain him. 

Joseph is before the Suffolk Superior Court in Boston on Monday, and the hearing is in progress. Presiding Judge Denis McInerney stated that he will release a report with his findings and recommendations after the hearing concludes. 

Federal prosecutors alleged Joseph instructed a court clerk to tell the ICE agent present to wait in the lobby, claiming that if the defendant was released, he would come out through the courtroom door into the lobby. Later, Joseph allegedly ordered the courtroom clerk to “go off the record for a moment” and the courtroom audio recorder was turned off for 52 seconds. 

Once the audio record was back on, Joseph said she would release the defendant. Federal prosecutors said Medina-Perez’s defense attorney had asked to speak with the defendant downstairs and Joseph responded, “That’s fine. Of course.” When reminded by the clerk that an ICE Officer was in the courthouse, Joseph allegedly stated, “That’s fine. I’m not gonna allow them to come in here. But he’s been released on this,” according to court documents. 

Prosecutors said MacGregor allegedly escorted the defendant, his attorney and an interpreter downstairs to the lockup and used his security access card to open the rear sally-port exit and release the defendant. 

District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph leaves Federal Court in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 25, 2019.  (Christopher Evans/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

The Justice Department agreed to drop the charges against Joseph in September 2022 after she referred herself to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC) and admitted to certain facts related to the case. 

The Massachusetts CJC filed formal charges accusing Joseph of “willful judicial misconduct” and conduct “prejudicial to the administration of justice.”