Connecticut Lawyer Who Stole From Clients Was Released From Prison Amid COVID-19 Concerns
Former Bristol attorney Jodi Zils Gagne was ordered released from prison to home confinement Thursday due to concerns over COVID-19.
June 05, 2020 at 05:23 PM
3 minute read
Five weeks after convicted former attorney Jodi Zils Gagne made a compassionate-plea motion for release from federal prison because of COVID-19 dangers, the Bureau of Prisons announced Friday it had granted that request.
According to court documents, Zils Gagne was released Thursday from the Danbury Federal Correction Institute to her Bristol home under home confinement.
Jonathan Einhorn, the New Haven solo practitioner representing Zils Gagne, said Friday his client's release was due in great part to a class action that other attorneys filed on behalf of at-risk inmates at the Danbury facility.
"Danbury was stalling and stalling and stalling and then, finally, they entered an order that the people on the at-risk list, including my client, had to be released by June 4 and she was," Einhorn said.
The class action was assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael Shea, who issued a 76-page ruling.
Zils Gagne was sentenced to 46 months in prison in April 2019 for stealing more than $169,000 from clients. She still has about 34 months left on her sentence. She was also disbarred from practicing law for 12 years.
Einhorn said it's not clear if Zils Gagne will have to go back to prison once the pandemic subsides, but he is confident she will be allowed to remain at home.
"I'm optimistic she will spend the rest of her term at home because of her MS and because it makes her at-risk in a prison environment," Einhorn said. "This is someone who has a serious life-threatening disease and was justifiably worried that she would die in jail. She is ecstatic to be home again."
In court pleadings, Einhorn maintained that having MS meant Zils Gagne had a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus.
The government, though, countered that it didn't believe an early release was warranted.
Prosecutors argued that no compelling evidence showed she was at a greater risk of contracting the virus because she had MS. In addition, the government said there was strong opposition to her release from her victims.
In his May 11 reply to the government's motion, Einhorn cited a letter from a neurologist indicating his client was more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 because MS is an autoimmune disease.
A former probate court-appointed conservator, Zils Gagne defrauded several people under the court's protection, prosecutors said. The victims included an elderly client more than 90 years old, according to court filings.
Representing the government was David Huang, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut. Tom Carson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment Friday.
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