The final gavel | Inside Johnny Doc’s Trial

Welcome, court watchers, to the final edition — for now — of the Inside Johnny Doc’s Trial newsletter. We’re not great at goodbyes here, so this is more of a “see you later.”

Thank you for following along from your inboxes as we’ve brought you the latest news and analysis from the courtroom and taken you behind the scenes at John Dougherty’s second trial. It’s been a month of long days in court for all involved, but we’ve enjoyed bringing you this newsletter, and we hope you liked it, too.

But back to the “see you later”: While the trial is over and we’re temporarily packing up our laptops, there is still more to come for Dougherty and his former codefendants at Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

That means you may hear from us periodically as there’s more Dougherty-related legal news to report. After all, there are appeals, sentencings, and a whole third trial on the horizon.

In the meantime, keep in touch. You can reach Jeremy at jroebuck@inquirer.com and Oona at ogoodin-smith@inquirer.com. Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Now, for one last time, let’s get to it.

— Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith (@jeremyrroebuck, @oonagoodinsmith, insidejohnnydoc@inquirer.com)

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📮Do you have a question about the trial? Email us back.

⏪ If you missed a minute of the courtroom action, you can catch up with our recaps of each day of the trial and all the rest of our coverage collected in one place.

📼 Jurors heard hours of FBI recordings over the trial’s 20 days, but there was one batch of evidence they didn’t hear in court: tapes of Dougherty allegedly threatening to “beat up,” “run over” and put potential witnesses against him “under the water.”

⏭️ Prosecutors and Dougherty’s defense are already preparing for his third trial this March — this one on charges he threatened a contractor who tried to fire his nephew. Brush up on the facts of the case, which prompted Dougherty’s then-spokesperson to remark in 2021: “This isn’t a prosecution; it’s a persecution.”

“We respect what happened, and we’ll move forward. We always do.” — Dougherty speaking to reporters as he left the courthouse Thursday moments after his conviction.

It was around this time two years ago that Dougherty was first convicted of federal crimes — his bribery case alongside then-City Councilmember Bobby Henon. That verdict prompted Dougherty’s resignation as head of Local 98 after a nearly three-decade tenure at its helm as well as the Building Trades Council, a powerful umbrella organization of the city’s trade unions.

Following Thursday’s second conviction, our colleague Lizzy McLellan Ravitch, who covers workplace and labor issues, set out to explain where Local 98 — the union that Dougherty transformed through sheer force of will from a once sleepy local into a 5,000-member juggernaut and, perhaps, the most influential force for organized labor in the city — stands now.

“It’s a different culture. It’s a different environment,” Mark Lynch, Dougherty’s successor as the union’s business manager, told her. “Right now my focus is on the future and not in the past.”

He wouldn’t talk about his predecessor or the case against him. But he was eager to discuss where Local 98 is headed next — including a literal move out of its longtime Spring Garden offices, which were at the center of a 2016 FBI raid often mentioned during Dougherty’s trial. The union’s new home base will be at the Navy Yard.

But Dougherty still has loyalists within the union. In fact, Local 98′s elections this summer turned contentious.

Dougherty handpicked Lynch to replace him when he stepped down in 2021. But by the time Lynch was up for reelection earlier this year, Dougherty had turned against him, backing rival Todd Neilson in the race.

Lynch, 37, ran on a platform of distancing Local 98 from Dougherty’s long shadow. He eked out a victory with 55% of the vote and his supporters told Lizzy that they valued his commitment, so far, to diversifying the union and opening up room for dissenting voices to be heard.

Members are now “more willing to speak their mind,” Dave Morris, a 26-year Local 98 veteran, said. “He’s creating a culture of engagement, of members being more involved in decisions.”

We recommend you give Lizzy’s full story a read.

With two federal convictions in as many years, Dougherty still faces a third trial for extortion this spring — set to take place five days after his sentencing date of March 20.

“We have post-trial motions from the first trial that still need to be litigated, we have another trial coming up, so there’s a lot more to litigate in this case,” his attorney Greg Pagano said following Thursday’s verdict.

In that case, Dougherty is accused of threatening to put out of business a contractor who tried to fire his nephew Greg Fiocca in 2020.

Dougherty had installed Fiocca, who is also charged in the case, as Local 98′s steward on the then-under construction Live! Casino Hotel project in South Philadelphia. But disputes quickly arose over Fiocca’s job performance and attendance.

Prosecutors say that when the contractor, Raymond Palmieri, docked Fiocca’s pay, the union chief’s nephew responded by throwing his manager at the job site across a desk during an argument. Afterward, Dougherty allegedly threatened to pull all Local 98 workers from the job and threatened to block Palmieri’s attempts to land any future electrical jobs in the city.

Both Dougherty and Fiocca have denied the accusations were an attempt to extort the contractor. And soon enough, it will be up to another jury to decide.

Meanwhile, Dougherty’s codefendants in the embezzlement trial, including Local 98′s former president Brian Burrows, who was also convicted Thursday, await sentencing for their crimes. The judge has scheduled Burrows’ hearing for March 21.

The other Local 98 officials and employees who were initially charged with them in the case but pleaded guilty before trial — including the union’s former political director Marita Crawford; the ex-head of its union apprentice training program, Michael Neill; and Dougherty’s personal assistants Niko Rodriguez and Brian Fiocca, the ex-union chief’s nephew and Greg Fiocca’s brother — are currently set for sentencing later this month.

But those dates are likely to change. Prosecutors have asked defense lawyers if they’d oppose postponing them to give everyone some breathing room after the trial.

There are also appeals to keep an eye on. Dougherty and Burrows vowed to appeal their embezzlement convictions Thursday. Dougherty has also pledged to fight his conviction in his 2021 bribery case.

But the only appeal that’s been filed so far is Henon’s. He is challenging his guilty verdict before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The panel of three judges who will decide that case hasn’t yet set a date for oral arguments.

Thank you, again, for keeping up with our coverage throughout the trial. And while this may be the end of our weekly courtroom updates from Dougherty’s second trial, we’ll be back in your inboxes before you know it.

In the meantime, if you enjoyed our newsletter, you might appreciate The Inquirer Morning Newsletter highlighting the best of the news outlet’s coverage every morning. You can subscribe to it here. While you’re at it, check out the entire portfolio of Inquirer newsletters. There’s one to interest every type of reader — from foodies and lovers of the great outdoors to the political junkies.

And with that, goodbye, for now. See you again soon.

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