President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of former Philadelphia labour leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, his lawyer said, paving the way for his release after he served about two years of a six-year term.
George Bochetto said the President signed the commutation on Thursday 3 September and that Dougherty could leave the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, as soon as Friday morning.
He said the decision would allow Dougherty to return home to care for his wife, Cecilia, whose health had deteriorated significantly. The couple’s money for private nursing care had reportedly run out.
“President Trump has signed a commutation so that Johnny Doc can be released from prison to take care of his gravely ill wife, Cecilia Dougherty,” Bochetto said. “Cecilia Dougherty is in desperate need of care. Her money has run out for private nursing, and she desperately needs John by her side.”
Bochetto said he received a call from the White House on Thursday afternoon informing him of the decision. He added that a team would be waiting outside the prison to take Dougherty home.
The commutation had not yet appeared on the US Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney website as of Thursday night. The records showed that Trump had denied a previous commutation request for Dougherty in July.
Dougherty, 64, was sentenced in July 2024 after being convicted of bribery, embezzlement, wire fraud and related offences. Prosecutors said he had helped arrange favourable treatment for Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers through former Philadelphia city councilman Bobby Henon.
A Justice Department account of the case said Dougherty and others had embezzled about $600,000 from the union between 2010 and 2016. Dougherty was also convicted of causing false information to be filed with the Department of Labour and of submitting false federal tax returns.
He had served as head of IBEW Local 98 for almost 30 years and was a powerful Democratic figure in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania politics. His release would therefore mark an unusual intervention by a Republican president on behalf of a prominent Democratic power broker.
“We are all just so grateful to President Trump, who really has risen above politics,” Bochetto said. “John Dougherty is an icon of Democratic politics in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Donald Trump is a Republican.”
Dougherty’s attempts to secure an earlier release through the courts had been opposed by federal prosecutors. A judge had rejected requests for compassionate release and house arrest, finding that Dougherty had not shown he was the only person capable of providing adequate care for his wife.
