Briefs allowed in support of Judge Joseph
A federal judge ruled Monday over the objections of prosecutors to allow briefs by local lawyers, retired state judges and Attorney General Maura Healey in support of embattled state Judge Shelley Joseph in the federal obstruction case against her.
Joseph, currently on paid leave from her $184,000 post, is facing federal charges of obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting for allegedly interfering with a federal investigation for allegedly aiding an illegal immigrant escape a Newton courthouse to avoid an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in 2018. Retired trial court officer Wesley MacGregor is also facing the same charges. The pair have pleaded not guilty.
On Sept. 6, lawyers for Joseph argued in a motion that the indictment should be dismissed because it failed to state an offense and the prosecution is barred by judicial immunity.
Attorney General Maura Healey, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a professor filed amicus briefs in support of Joseph last week, all of which the U.S. District Attorney’s Office filed motions objecting to.
Federal Judge Leo Sorokin ruled Monday that he would allow the briefs by the professor, Healey and MACDL. Sorokin has not ruled yet on a separate brief submitted by the ACLU and opposed by prosecutors.
Four former Supreme Judicial Court justices, including retired Chief Justice Roderick Ireland, are among the 61 retired state judges who are members of the Ad Hoc Committee for Judicial Independence represented in the ACLU brief. The committee argues Joseph’s conduct was “an exercise of court control over the courtroom,” according to a release.
Joseph had to weigh the constitutional issue “whether the law enforcement officer’s attempts to arrest someone inside a courthouse could chill people’s access to our courts, and thus impair both the targeted party’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial and the public’s First Amendment right to access court proceedings,” the brief states.
A final status conference in the case is scheduled for Oct. 10 in federal court.