President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty on Thursday, his lawyer confirmed.
George Bochetto, Dougherty’s attorney, said during a Friday morning phone call that the president had signed the commutation the previous day. He said Dougherty would be “released any hour now.”
Bochetto indicated the move will also release Dougherty from needing to pay around $1.6 million for restitution, and that the man will not face monitoring or house arrest, but will be “a free man.” Bochetto confirmed, “It’s all true.”
The lawyer described the “compassionate release” as “remarkable in its humanity,” adding that it was “equally as remarkable” that a Republican president granted it to the Democratic political figure.
“It demonstrates that doing the right thing” can be an endeavor that is “bipartisan,” Bochetto said, noting that he is “so proud” of Trump.
Bochetto continued that he is “so happy for John, and particularly” for Dougherty’s “gravely ill wife, who will now have her husband by her side.”
Dougherty, a former business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, was sentenced in 2024 to six years in prison. The US Justice Department said at the time that Dougherty had been sentenced in connection with embezzling funds from the union as well as in connection with payouts provided to a Philadelphia City Council member.
Then-US Attorney Jacqueline Romero, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, delivered a blistering assessment of Dougherty at the time of sentencing.
“John Dougherty held himself out as Local 98’s biggest booster,” Romero said in a statement. “But while he was backslapping his electricians with one hand, he was ripping them off with the other. He cheated Philadelphians, too, through his corrupt quid pro quo with Bobby Henon.”
Romero added at the time, “Our city and its workers deserve so much better than union bosses and politicians whose true priority is looking out for number one.” She thanked “all of the investigators, analysts, prosecutors, and staff who partnered on this case, and, in doing so, stood up for integrity and the rule of law in Philadelphia.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Friday.
