Main: Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro speak about antitrust investigations and meatpackers during a press conference in Washington, United States, on May 4, 2026. (Photo by Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP). Left inset: U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose (U.S. District Court). Right inset: Bryan Rafael Gomez (DHS).
Several weeks after a DOJ lawyer and the Trump administration were called out for putting a federal judge in danger, the government filed a status report Thursday confirming the arrest of a suspected killer in Massachusetts.
Law&Crime has covered from the start how Rhode Island U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in late April granted Bryan Rafael Gomez’s habeas corpus petition and ordered his release from custody, not knowing that Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Bolan knew — but would not say — that Gomez was wanted in the Dominican Republic in connection with an alleged homicide.
Evaluating Gomez, 27, based on his criminal history as known to her at the time, the Joe Biden-appointed jurist granted his release.
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Shortly thereafter, the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release accusing “activist judge” DuBose of knowingly ordering the release of an international homicide suspect, in a false post that remained online months later in its original form.
During a subsequent show-cause hearing, Bolan told the judge he “sincerely” apologized for the “consequences” of his “lack of disclosure,” claiming he was following ICE’s guidance that he was not allowed to “disclose that information.” The attorney said he did not know that ICE “had previously disclosed that same information on April 16, 2026,” and publicly, though not directly to DuBose.
The attorney also said he reached out to anyone capable of getting the DHS post taken down, but those efforts were in vain.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s name also appeared on a filing that clarified DuBose “did not have knowledge at the time of her ruling that Gomez was wanted by authorities in the Dominican Republic.”
Chief U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. promptly appointed Roger Williams University School of Law Professor Niki Kuckes as special counsel to probe “possible misconduct,” specifically a “lack of candor” with the court.
In June, McConnell affirmed that DuBose appropriately ordered Gomez’s release pending a bond hearing based on the “incomplete evidence she was given.”
“Unfortunately, the consequences that followed were grave for this Court and for the federal justice system,” he said, slamming the “false public statement by ICE” which put DuBose “in personal danger and undermined public faith in the federal courts.”
The chief judge saw Bolan’s omission as the “equivalent of making an affirmative false statement,” but declined to order sanctions.
On Thursday, Bolan “respectfully” submitted a filing in DuBose’s court, with Blanche. In it, he revealed that Gomez is in ICE custody in Massachusetts, following a Thursday arrest on a Worcester-based April 4 warrant for misdemeanor assault and battery on a family or household member, reportedly an ex-girlfriend.
“Should the Commonwealth of Massachusetts release the Petitioner, ICE counsel has informed undersigned counsel that ICE intends to detain him under the immigration detainer attached,” the filing said. “Petitioner now has a final order of removal[.]”
“As a result, the Petitioner is within the 90 days during which the government is obligated to detain him, and he is not entitled to a bond hearing,” the status report continued, asking DuBose to toss the habeas petition and “enter judgment” for the administration.
The post DOJ lawyer called out for putting judge in ‘danger’ now ‘respectfully’ informs her months later that homicide suspect is in ICE custody first appeared on Law & Crime.
