Jury selected in ex-labor leader John Dougherty’s 3rd trial; why this trial isn’t in Philly

For the third time in as many years, John Dougherty strode into the Philadelphia federal courthouse on Market Street on Monday preparing to once again select a jury to determine his fate.

“This is old news,” the former labor leader quipped to reporters before the selection process began. “You should be up with Donald Trump instead of with John Dougherty,” he said, referencing another, arguably higher profile, trial unfolding 100 miles away.

And, we have a jury. Just past 4:30 p.m., U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl announced the 12 jurors and four alternates who will ultimately decide the fates of John Dougherty and his nephew.

The jurors — six women and six men — span in age from their 20s or 30s to retirement age, and were selected from across the 4,700-square-mile, nine-county swath of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Potential jurors are now individually being called back to the judge’s chambers to be privately interviewed by lawyers from both sides.

Meanwhile, those in the courtroom are left to wait, seated on the gallery’s unforgiving wooden benches, with some chatting among themselves and others staring straight ahead.

As John Dougherty and Greg Fiocca sit quietly behind a table at the head of the courtroom, prosecutors and defense attorneys have spent much of the morning quizzing the five dozen prospective jurors to select a final panel who will determine the two mens’ fates. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The preliminary group of potential jurors consists of several federal employees, attorneys, a tennis coach, a school nurse, and dozens with ties to law enforcement or a labor union. At least five people in the pool said they have ties to Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — the union Dougherty led for the 30 years — and at least one potential juror is a member.

Unlike John Dougherty’s two earlier trials — both of which played out at the federal courthouse in Center City — his third will take place in Reading, starting with opening arguments there Wednesday, once jury selection in Philadelphia is done.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl, who has presided over all of Dougherty’s recent legal matters, is normally stationed at the small federal courthouse in downtown Reading.

And we're off!

Roughly 60 potential jurors have filed into the courtroom, where U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl has sworn them in, advised them that this trial will take place in Reading (starting Wednesday), and is now introducing them to the defendants and lawyers in the case.

John Dougherty appeared in good spirits as he arrived Monday for his third go-round with a jury selection process – proceedings he described as "old hat" for him after his two earlier trial.

“This is old news. You should be up with Donald Trump instead of with John Dougherty,” he quipped to reporters, referring to the former president’s criminal trial also picking a jury Monday in Manhattan.

By all accounts, Greg Fiocca, a union electrician and nephew of labor leader John Dougherty, was less than a model employee.

He rarely showed up for work, was once caught sleeping on the job, and had a history across multiple postings of mouthing off to his bosses. He was laid off from a Market East construction site in 2016 after he spit on a supervisor. And by spring of that year, even his uncle — then the most powerful union leader in the state — had had enough.

Greg Fiocca, 31, is John Dougherty’s nephew and a former member of Local 98 who grew up in in Pennsport in the house next door to his uncle.

But despite Fiocca’s troubled work history, including altercations with former supervisors, Dougherty appointed him in 2020 to the plum posting as Local 98′s steward on Live! Casino’s project.

John Dougherty, widely known as “Johnny Doc,” was once considered the most powerful union leader in the state, transforming Local 98 in his three decades at its helm into a powerhouse in the arenas of politics and organized labor.

Under his oversight, union money and manpower helped elect governors, members of Congress, mayors, judges, and members of City Council, and his once sleepy electrician’s union became a force capable of extracting significant labor concessions from some of the largest companies in the region.

For a third time in as many years, John Dougherty is facing a federal felony trial — this time on conspiracy and extortion charges.

The former labor leader and his nephew, Greg Fiocca, are accused of threatening a contractor and a job site manager amid a dispute over Fiocca’s poor job performance and pay. Prosecutors say that while working on construction of the Live! Casino in South Philadelphia in 2020, Fiocca assaulted his supervisor and that Dougherty later threatened the block the contractor’s ability to land future work in Philadelphia.