CLEVELAND — Jimmy Dimora, the disgraced former Cuyahoga County commissioner who has spent more than a decade behind bars on corruption charges, is back home in Northeast Ohio after being released from prison.
News 5 media partner The Marshall Project confirmed Dimora's release, which was brought about by the CARES ACT.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which took effect during the pandemic, allowed imprisoned individuals to be placed in home confinement. Its use was extended beyond the expiration of the covered emergency period.
Upon release, Dimora was "relieved, happy and shocked," according to The Marshall Project.
He is under home confinement and staying with family.
His attorney has argued in the past that Dimora's age and poor health should be considered factors for a sentence less than the guideline range.
Dimora was convicted of a slew of charges in 2012, which at the time was one of the largest criminal corruption cases in Ohio history. He was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison but was re-sentenced in June 2022 with a term reduction to 23 years— having 13 years to go.
Former Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who held the position while Dimora was commissioner, told News 5 he worked to get Dimora placed in home confinement.
“We knew the Cares Act was expiring in July, and a lot of people who knew him throughout Northeast Ohio wrote letters urging him to be released," Rokakis said. "The conditions were older than 65, no crime involving sex or violence and having served half his term, and that was true in all cases.”
Rokakis said he visited Dimora at the federal medical center in Massachusetts several months ago and was able to confirm Dimora was too sick to be part of the general prison population.
“When I saw him in the fall of 2022, I was the first person to visit him in over two years; COVID-19 had shut the prisons down," Rokakis said. “I’m glad to hear that he has been released; I hope that he has some quality time left, I don’t know, but again when I saw him, he was not well.”
Peter Lawson Jones, who was a Cuyahoga County Commissioner for nine years while Dimora was in office, said Dimora should have been sent to home confinement months earlier and believes the original sentence of 28 years was far too strong and disproportionate.
“Quite frankly, I think it was long overdue," Lawson Jones said. “Yes, he should have served time, there’s no question about that, but people would have gotten out of prison much faster than he had they committed a murder or arson.”
The specific terms of Dimora's home confinement have not yet been released.
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