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Law360 (May 5, 2020, 8:39 PM EDT ) Citing serious health problems including a procedure during which one of his lungs was removed, the disgraced former mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city urged a federal judge on Tuesday to allow him to continue serving his 15-year bribery sentence at home as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread.
Edwin Pawlowski said forcing him to remain in prison in Connecticut places him at a serious risk of infection and death, and he asked that he be sent home to his wife and children in Allentown to continue serving his sentence while he pursues an appeal of his March 2018 conviction.
"Mr. Pawlowski was sentenced for a nonviolent crime to a significant period of incarceration," he said. "Mr. Pawlowski, however, was not sentenced to a punishment that has an extreme likelihood of killing him."
Pawlowski was sentenced to 15 years in prison in October 2018 following his conviction for soliciting donations from vendors for an ultimately ill-fated U.S. Senate campaign in exchange for promises of lucrative city business.
Prosecutors accused Pawlowski of trying to wring money out of city vendors, including law firms, an information technology provider, a company seeking a streetlight contract, an architectural firm bidding to renovate a swimming pool, an engineering firm that won inspection work on a roadway construction project and a local developer seeking zoning approvals.
He was tried and convicted alongside former Norris McLaughlin & Marcus PA partner Scott Allinson, who prosecutors accused of agreeing to make donations to Pawlowski's campaign in exchange for a promise of municipal work to his firm.
In pushing for his release Tuesday, Pawlowski noted that the facility where he is housed in Danbury, Connecticut, has already seen three coronavirus deaths.
Pawlowski said he fears he could be the next fatality as he pointed to health conditions including his single lung, heart issues he's been treated for in the last year and an antiviral drug he's been taking for an eye condition that he said served to compromise his immune system.
"Mr. Pawlowski is housed with 70 other men in one area," he said. "It is highly probably that he will be infected with COVID-19 and, if so, a high probability of death exists due to his health circumstances, including only having one lung."
He asked that he be allowed to remain under home confinement for the duration of his appeal and until conditions improve such that his life would not be in jeopardy as a result of his imprisonment.
Pawlowski had previously asked the Third Circuit directly on two occasions in the last two months to grant him bail pending appeal given the threat of COVID-19 at the prison in Danbury, but the appeals court denied his motions.
Neither Pawlowski's attorney nor a representative for the U.S. attorney's office immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
Pawlowski is represented by Jack McMahon of the Law Office of Jack McMahon.
The case is U.S. v. Edwin Pawlowski et al., case number 5:17-cr-00390, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
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