With sentencing looming, labor leader John Dougherty asks for leniency citing his commitment to his union and community

Hours before he was set to face sentencing on bribery and embezzlement charges, convicted labor leader John Dougherty sought leniency Wednesday from the judge overseeing his case.

In a memo filed in federal court, Dougherty’s lawyer, Greg Pagano, described him as a tireless champion throughout his life for union workers, his family and his community as well as a man who “spent almost every waking hour of every day of the week working to improve” their lots.

Pagano maintained that the 11- to 14-year prison term recommended under federal sentencing guidelines was too harsh a punishment for the crimes Dougherty committed. And he urged U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl to defer any prison sentence ex-union chief might receive so he can remain free to care for his ailing wife.

“John Dougherty dedicated more than half of his life to zealously advocating for organized labor … the forgotten people in society … [and] his neighborhood and the City of Philadelphia,” Pagano wrote.

“Good work does not absolve bad work,” the lawyer continued. “But good work cannot be erased. … We ask that the court consider the innumerable charitable acts and good works [Dougherty committed throughout his life] in delivering the appropriate and fair sentence.”

That entreaty came as Dougherty — who led the politically powerful Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for more than three decades — was set to finally learn his fate Thursday more than five years after he was indicted on a slew of felony charges and nearly three after his first of two convictions.

» READ MORE: City Council members, Ed Rendell, and others wrote to support Johnny Doc before his sentencing. Here’s what they said.

Prosecutors have urged the judge to put him behind bars for up to 14 years — more than three times the sentence imposed on any of the six union officials and allies convicted alongside him in the case. They’ve also signaled they will fight any request by Dougherty to remain free for an extended period.

“Dougherty’s crimes have inflicted immeasurable harm upon Local 98 and the City of Philadelphia,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Costello wrote in his own sentencing recommendation to the court last week. “Justice demands that he be held fully accountable for his actions.”

» READ MORE: Prosecutors will seek up to 14 years for labor leader Johnny Doc at his sentencing on bribery and embezzlement charges

In crafting the appropriate punishment, Schmehl must weigh the fact that two juries convicted Dougherty of serious felony crimes.

The first guilty verdict came in 2021, as he and former Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon were convicted in a yearslong bribery scheme that allowed Dougherty to leave his imprint on numerous policies and decisions made at City Hall. Both resigned their positions shortly after; Henon was sentenced to 3 ½ years.

The second, last year, resulted in convictions for Dougherty and his second-in-command at Local 98, Brian Burrows, who were accused, along with others, of embezzling more than $600,000 from their union. Burrows was sentenced to four years last month.

But in his filing Wednesday, Pagano urged the judge to consider Dougherty’s crimes in the context in which they occurred.

The ex-union leader may have been convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his union, the lawyer argued, but the amount he took was far outweighed by what he gave back to its members in the form of increased pay rates, top-notch benefits and access to steady work.

“The members of Local 98 are unquestionable victims here,” he wrote. “But they are also beneficiaries. [They] — and the tens of thousand of family members they support — certainly benefited substantially for decades as a direct result of Mr. Dougherty.”

As for the bribes paid to Henon, Pagano maintained that Dougherty only sought influence at City Hall to put union workers on a level playing field with the big-moneyed interests who routinely spend millions lobbying city officials.

His primary motive, the lawyer said, was “to benefit the union.”

In addition to those arguments, Dougherty on Wednesday submitted more than 240 letters to the judge from union workers, community members, family and public officials all vouching for his commitment to public service.

The list of correspondents ranged from childhood friends, union members and clergy to bold-faced names like former Gov. Ed Rendell, ex-U.S. Congressman Lou Barletta, former City Controller Alan Butkovitz, former Inquirer and Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky and Sister Mary Scullion, the cofounder of the homeless advocacy nonprofit Project Home.

“I can honestly say that John has done so much good for the City we both love and its citizens,” Rendell wrote. “And he gained nothing for himself, except the respect of so many.”

Former Philadelphia City Councilmember Jannie Blackwell described Dougherty as a “catalyst for change.”

“John Dougherty will eternally be in my heart and my prayers because I know that he is a decent person deserving of every consideration,” she wrote.

The letters also highlighted Dougherty’s less public acts of service, including organizing volunteers to send medical supplies, food and equipment to New York City in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, helping friends through personal hardships, and dedicating countless hours to the betterment of the South Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up.

“I love my neighborhood and thanks to Doc it not only survives but continues to thrive,” Dougherty’s 74-year-old former neighbor said in a handwritten letter to the judge. “I would have to write a book to explain how much good he has done for old timers like myself and young people like my grandchildren … Bottom line: John is a very good man that has done so much good in his life.”

But the person to whom Dougherty has remained most dedicated for more than 40 years, Pagano said in his filings, is his wife, Celie, who suffers from a brain injury that has left her a quadriplegic, almost completely blind and dependent upon his round-the-clock care.

The lawyer urged Schmehl to allow Dougherty to remain free for an extended period so he can continue serving as her primary caregiver, describing his presence as an “irreplaceable” condition to his wife’s continued survival.

Come Thursday, Dougherty will learn whether that plea will be enough to sway the judge or if his time as a free man is finally drawing short.