Johnny Doc’s embezzlement trial has been postponed — again

The long-delayed federal embezzlement trial of former labor leader John Dougherty has been postponed. Again.

Two weeks before the case was set to go before a jury, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl on Monday pushed it off until spring at the request of Dougherty’s new lawyers, who say they need more time to prepare to fight the government’s accusations that Dougherty and others embezzled more than $600,000 from the coffers of the union he once led, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The judge on Monday rescheduled the trial — repeatedly delayed over the last three years, in part, by the coronavirus pandemic, scrutiny over an FBI informant, and an overhaul to Dougherty’s legal team — to begin April 24.

» READ MORE: Johnny Doc is struggling to find — and pay for — new lawyers as his embezzlement trial looms

In asking the judge for a continuance, Dougherty’s attorney, Caroline Goldner Cinquanto, said the defense team has “an enormous amount” of information — including hundreds of hours of recorded telephone calls and thousands of emails seized by government investigators, as well as notes from Dougherty’s previous Ballard Spahr lawyers — to review before defending the ex-union chief in front of a jury.

Cinquanto took on the 96-count case in November. Her representation of the former union chief, along with lawyer Alan J. Tauber, comes after Dougherty parted ways with his longtime attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer, who defended the former labor leader in his first trial on bribery charges in 2021.

Cinquanto initially requested 10 months to review the wire taps and other evidence. But prosecutors, the judge, and lawyers for the only remaining codefendant in the case who has not entered a guilty plea — Local 98 president Brian Burrows — pushed back on that timeline, instead settling on a springtime start to the trial, which the government expects to last around five weeks.

» READ MORE: An FBI informant recorded Johnny Doc threatening ‘rats.’ His lawyers say that violated his rights.

“I don’t think the case is all that complicated, frankly,” Burrows’ attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, told the judge Monday.

The latest delay in proceedings also comes after a flurry of plea deals last month, when four of the defendants in the case — including former Local 98 political director Marita Crawford, Michael Neill, the longtime head of the union’s apprentice training program, and two of Dougherty’s onetime assistants — pleaded guilty to various charges tied to the embezzlement scheme.

» READ MORE: The guilty pleas keep coming in Johnny Doc’s embezzlement case as two more Local 98 members cut deals

Prosecutors say Dougherty, Burrows, and the four other defendants dipped into membership dues of the politically powerful union to pay for everything from hotel stays and restaurant tabs to grocery bills, home appliances, and toiletries.

The case is one of two federal trials looming ahead for Dougherty, whom prosecutors have also accused of threatening a union contractor who tried to fire his nephew from a job site in 2020. That trial is now expected to begin in September, the judge said.

Separately, Dougherty also awaits sentencing on his bribery conviction that could send him to prison for up to 20 years.