The chief federal judge in Rhode Island accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of endangering a fellow Rhode Island-based judge in a blistering letter issued Tuesday.
Chief U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. said prosecutors’ failure to disclose information to the court related to the immigration case of Bryan Rafael Gómez “resulted in harm to Judge (Melissa) DuBose, to the Court and to the public trust in the judiciary.”
The Rhode Island U.S. District Court appointed a Roger Williams law professor in May to investigate whether Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Bolan misled the court when he failed to disclose that Gómez was wanted in connection with a homicide in the Dominican Republic. The investigation concluded that Bolan “violated the duty of candor” Bolan owed to the court, McConnell said, but found the conduct did not warrant formal disciplinary proceedings.
The investigation also found that ICE officials instructed Bolan not to disclose to the court that Gómez was sought in connection with a homicide.
After a hearing in April, DuBose ordered Gómez released on bond. Soon after, the Department of Homeland Security published a news release in which an official accused DuBose of letting someone wanted for murder back on the streets.
“An activist judge appointed by Joe Biden released this wanted murderer back into American communities,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in the press release. “This is yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our communities.”
The press release was still published on the Homeland Security website as of Tuesday.
McConnell and his family have received death threats, he told Ocean State Media in May.
Bolan apologized to DuBose for his role in the Gómez saga, according to McConnell’s letter regarding the disciplinary inquiry. While the error was “serious,” McConnell said, Bolan’s apology was one reason the court decided not to initiate full disciplinary proceedings.
“Your lapse of judgement reflected a failure to prioritize your duty to the Court over the instructions of your client, but you did not act for any deceitful or illicit reason,” McConnell wrote.
