Giorgianni spent 30 days at Federal Medical Center Devens in Ft. Devens, Mass., for a pre-trial psychological evaluation.
EWING — Thirty days after beginning a prison term that friends felt certain would kill him, Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni was released Wednesday, according to federal Bureau of Prisons records.
Giorgianni was returned to his Ewing home, where he remains under house arrest as part of the conditions of his bail in a federal corruption case where he is charged alongside Trenton Mayor Tony Mack.
Giorgianni spent 30 days at Federal Medical Center Devens in Ft. Devens, Mass., for a pre-trial psychological evaluation. The Bureau of Prisons was able to complete its evaluation during that period of time, according to a release order signed by Judge Michael A. Shipp on Wednesday.
Indicted on seven counts of corruption with Mack and Mack’s brother Ralphiel, and six separate counts of dealing drugs as part of an alleged prescription drug ring where the Macks were not charged, Giorgianni had made a bid to be declared incompetent to stand trial in both matters.
When federal prosecutors argued his first out-patient evaluation by a Pennsylvania psychologist was marred because Giorgianni said he was taking painkillers, Shipp ordered Giorgianni to have an in-patient examination. Giorgianni was sent to Devens, a facility west of Boston designed for sick and mentally ill inmates, on Oct. 7.
Giorgianni still faces a Jan. 6 trial date with the Macks unless Giorgianni’s case is granted severance. While Giorgianni was incarcerated, lawyers for all three defendants made a motion to sever Giorgianni from the case and get him a separate trial.
Tony Mack, Ralphiel Mack and Giorgianni were all arrested on Sept. 10, 2012, after an FBI sting operation that lasted nearly two years. Agents controlling the sting used cooperating witnesses to allegedly pass bribes in exchange for help with a fictional parking garage project downtown in the capital city. The three were indicted Dec. 6 of last year, and all the men pleaded not guilty.
Since their arrest, Tony Mack and Ralphiel Mack remain free on $150,000 bond each. Giorgianni was released on $250,000 bond with electronic monitoring and home confinement.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.
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