PHILADELPHIA — Johnny Doc is free.

Convicted former Philadelphia labor leader John Dougherty was released Friday afternoon from a federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, his lawyer said, capping a surprise outcome that was the result of President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the remainder of Dougherty’s six-year prison term.

Dougherty’s lawyer, George Bochetto, said he was released around 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Dougherty — widely known as Johnny Doc — had served less than two years of that sentence, which came after he was convicted in two high-profile trials: The first in which he was found guilty of bribing former Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon, the second over his participation in an embezzlement scheme that cost his union nearly $600,000.

For much of the past year, Dougherty had been petitioning U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl to release him on house arrest so he could provide care for his gravely ill wife. But Schmehl had repeatedly denied those efforts,

Trump’s decision to commute Dougherty’s sentence instead will result in a more sweeping form of relief: his conviction will remain intact, but he will not be subject to any monitoring or house arrest, and he will no longer have to pay about $1.6 million in restitution to the union he was convicted of defrauding.

Bochetto called Trump’s decision “a magnificent gesture of compassion.” And he said it came after he’d been in regular communication with White House staff members about the dire and longstanding health challenges faced by Dougherty’s wife, Cecilia.

A White House official said Friday that those circumstances figured into Trump’s decision — particularly because Dougherty’s father-in-law, who had been serving as the primary caretaker, died last year.

Bochetto said there was “absolutely no reason” to keep Dougherty behind bars while his wife’s health was continuing to decline.

Dougherty, while testifying before Schmehl earlier this year, said he had done everything he could from prison to lift his wife’s spirits — mailing her letters, routinely calling her, and even singing to her over the phone.

But he said he was desperate to get home and help her manage a set of challenges that have left her paralyzed and largely nonverbal. He said his adult daughters and private aides were struggling to provide the type of intensive, round-the-clock care she requires.

“I just wanna take care of Celia,” he said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office had opposed Dougherty’s efforts to be released. A spokesperson said the office had no comment on Trump’s decision to set Dougherty free.

Beyond caring for his wife, it was not immediately clear Friday what Dougherty’s future might hold — or whether he’d use his newfound freedom to try to return to the political stage.

Before he was prosecuted, Dougherty was a bona fide power broker while running Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which he turned into the biggest independent source of campaign money in Pennsylvania. That funding helped elect mayors, City Council members, and members of Congress. It also helped bolster the judicial candidacy of Dougherty’s brother, Kevin Dougherty, who won a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2015.

Even if John Dougherty did want to seek a return to the spotlight, it would have to come from a different perch.

Not only is Local 98 under new leadership, Dougherty’s convictions on counts of bribery and embezzlement make him ineligible to hold an elected union office for 13 years under U.S. Department of Labor laws.

Labor leader Ryan Boyer, who replaced Dougherty as chair of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, said he nonetheless expected Dougherty to end up back in the mix in some fashion

“If I know John the way I know John,” he said, “he’s not going to sit on his hands.”

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