Tom Girardi’s lawyers trying to delay hearing on the result of his mental health evaluation
A prosecutor fighting against the pushback of sentencing said the ‘defendant has had ample time to retain any expert to review’
Lawyers for disgraced celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi are attempting to delay a hearing on his mental health ahead of his sentencing.
Girardi, 85, was convicted in August 2024 on four counts of wire fraud involving the embezzling of money meant for his clients. A jury found that Girardi, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, used the money to fund an opulent lifestyle, which involved private jets, club memberships, and jewelry.
Now, his lawyers are vying against the government’s proposed date of April 11 for the hearing and are trying to push it back to May 16, court documents obtained Monday by City News Service showed.
The former high-powered attorney was due to be sentenced in December 2024. Prosecutors seek a 14-year prison sentence and over $3.7 million in restitution.
Prosecutors argued in court that Girardi had been operating a decade-long Ponzi scheme where he siphoned at least $15 million in settlement funds from four clients.
Girardi’s lawyers are asking for a five to seven-year sentence, arguing that their client suffers from dementia and was “an octogenarian first-time offender convicted of nonviolent crimes who poses no ongoing or future threat to society.”
The defense team believes Girardi's imprisonment in the memory care ward of an Orange County nursing home would be appropriate.
Kathy Ruigomez was among the victims who testified in court about how Girardi mishandled millions of dollars awarded to her in a Pacific Gas & Electric settlement after her son suffered severe burns in the San Bruno, California, pipeline gas explosion in 2010.
She described his withholding of her money as “a slap in the face” and said that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
After hearing a verdict of guilty, Judge Josephine Staton ruled that Girardi needed to undergo a mental evaluation to determine whether he should be handed a prison sentence or be hospitalized for life.
On January 7, Girardi was flown to FMC Butner, a federal prison in North Carolina for male inmates, and spent 45 days being evaluated for cognitive impairment, according to reports from the Los Angeles Daily News.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons submitted a roughly 30-page evaluation of Girardi on March 11.
The report was said to be “neither complex nor voluminous” and did not “recommend further testing or evaluation of defendant,” according to notes from Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Paetty.
According to Paetty, Girardi’s federal public defender, Samuel Cross, has asked for more time to consult with “already-retained expert witnesses” and additional lay witnesses about the report's results, reports The Daily News.
However, a prosecutor who wants the hearing to go ahead on April 11, wrote that the “defendant has had ample time to retain any expert to review and evaluate the BOP report.
When the results from the medical evaluation are eventually revealed, Judge Staton will set a sentencing date.
The Independent contacted Girardi’s public defender, Samuel Cross, for comment.