A Boston judge accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in 2018 insists she had no knowledge of the alleged scheme.

The judge, Shelley Joseph, is facing a disciplinary hearing over charges she engaged in “judicial misconduct” in a 2018 incident in which a twice-deported Dominican national, Jose Medina-Perez, was in court to face drugs charges and for being a fugitive from justice. Judge Joseph was accused of helping the man evade an ICE agent — who had shown up to detain him — and slip out the back door of a courthouse.

Federal prosecutors indicted the judge on obstruction of justice charges in 2019. However, the Biden administration dropped the charges, and the matter was referred to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct. 

The disciplinary hearing is taking place as the Trump administration is asking that a federal judge reject a motion to dismiss charges against a Milwaukee County circuit judge, Hannah Dugan, who prosecutors accused of helping an illegal immigrant avoid ICE agents at a courthouse in Wisconsin earlier this year.

Judge Joseph’s disciplinary hearing kicked off on Monday and her lawyer, Elizabeth Mulvey, sought to cast the narrative around what happened in 2018 as “lore.”

Ms. Mulvey said those accusing Judge Joseph of misconduct “make references to this incident as if a dozen people had seen Judge Joseph get off the bench, escort the defendant to the door, give him a hug, and wish him godspeed.”

As part of her agreement with the Biden administration to drop the charges against Judge Joseph, she agreed to some facts from the day. The judge agreed that the migrant’s defense attorney, David Jellinek, asked for an off-the-record sidebar conference with her and the prosecutor, Shannon McDermott, which lasted 52 seconds. The judge also agreed that after that conversation Mr. Medina-Perez was led out a back door instead of the front door while the ICE agent waited in the lobby after the prosecutor decided to drop the fugitive charge.

Prosecutors say Judge Joseph concocted the scheme during the sidebar to help Mr. Medina-Perez escape during that time. They also say a court officer, Wesley MacGregor, led Mr. Medina-Perez to a downstairs lockup and then opened the back door and let him leave. Mr. Jellinek, who has received immunity from federal prosecutors, said he told the judge about his plan to help his client escape during the sidebar conversation.

On Monday, Judge Joseph’s attorney accused Mr. Jellinek of exaggerating how much the jurist knew to avoid federal charges himself. Ms. Mulvey called Mr. Jellinek the “mastermind” of an “ill-conceived scheme” and insisted he did not tell the judge about his plan. “Nobody told her Medina-Perez had gone out the back door,” Ms. Mulvey said. “She knew nothing about it.”

The hearing is being heard before a former deputy assistant general, Denis McInerny, who will submit a report to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct within 30 days of the proceedings. The judicial commission has accused Judge Joseph of engaging in “willful judicial misconduct” and bringing “disrepute” to the judicial system. She was suspended but reinstated as a judge in 2022. 

The commission may recommend disciplinary action to the Supreme Judicial Court. However, only the legislature can remove Judge Joseph from the bench for misconduct.