Photo: Daniel Torok. \/ Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)<\/p>\n
John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty walked out of the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, around 3 p.m. on Friday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>, after President Donald Trump signed a commutation cutting short his six-year federal prison sentence.<\/p>\n Dougherty had served less than two years of that term. His attorney, George Bochetto, confirmed the release.<\/p>\n Dougherty, who led Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for nearly three decades, was sentenced in July 2024 after convictions in two separate federal trials.<\/p>\n He was found guilty in 2021 of bribing former Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon, then convicted in December 2023 of participating in an embezzlement scheme that drained close to $600,000 from the union he ran.<\/p>\n Care for a Gravely Ill Wife Drove the Petition<\/p>\n Bochetto told 6abc Action News<\/a> that the central argument for release was Dougherty’s need to care for his wife, Cecilia, who has metastatic brain damage and is largely paralyzed and nonverbal.<\/p>\n The family’s financial resources for private nursing care were exhausted, Bochetto said. He added that Cecilia’s father, who had been her primary caretaker, died last year.<\/p>\n A White House official confirmed to the Inquirer that those caregiving circumstances factored directly into Trump’s decision.<\/p>\n Dougherty himself testified before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl earlier this year, describing how he called and wrote letters to his wife from prison and said he needed to go home to help manage her care. He told the court he wanted to take care of her.<\/p>\n Earlier Bids for Release Were Denied<\/p>\n Before Trump acted, Dougherty had spent much of the past year seeking compassionate release through the courts. Judge Schmehl repeatedly denied those requests<\/a>, most recently in July 2026. The U.S. Attorney’s Office had opposed each effort.<\/p>\n The commutation process took roughly a year and a half, Bochetto told Action News. It involved submitting documents to the Department of Justice and providing detailed information to White House staff about Cecilia’s condition and the family’s circumstances.<\/p>\n Bochetto said the Trump administration was rigorous in the demands it made for supporting facts and documentation.<\/p>\n Conviction Stands; Restitution Obligation Does Not<\/p>\n The commutation does not erase Dougherty’s criminal record. His convictions remain intact.<\/p>\n However, as the Inquirer reported, the order relieves him of an obligation to pay approximately $1.6 million in restitution to Local 98, and he will face no supervised release or home monitoring conditions.<\/p>\n Prosecutors had sought a sentence of up to 14 years and $2.1 million in restitution, describing Dougherty’s conduct as inflicting severe harm on both the union and the city.<\/p>\n