An ICE agent was in the courthouse. Did the judge and others help a man flee? bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/12/… via @BostonGlobe
“ICE is going to get him,” the judge told the attorneys during the April 2 sidebar conversation. “What if we continue [the case]?” she suggested, before instructing a clerk to turn off the courtroom’s audio recorder. Whatever was said during the next 58 seconds went unrecorded.
Minutes later, Medina-Perez was escorted downstairs, released from custody, and allowed out a back door, according to two people briefed on the episode. He scaled a fence and took off, leaving the immigration agent behind, the people said.
This was not the first time a Newton judge has appeared to help an undocumented immigrant — last year a man accused of rape facing deportation was released on $2,500 bail — but this time the US attorney in Boston has convened a grand jury to investigate.
The actions of the judge and court personnel that afternoon are the focus of a probe into whether they broke the law in helping Medina-Perez evade federal authorities, according to five people with direct knowledge.
The federal investigation into a sitting state court judge is extraordinary and underscores the highly politicized push and pull between state authorities and federal officials who have been instructed to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
