Tom Girardi Healthy Enough for Prison Sentence, Judge Says (1)

Tom Girardi will be eligible for a prison sentence after a federal judge found Monday his dementia didn’t meet criteria to require a sentence in an in-patient psychiatric facility.

The former lawyer, who became famous after he was portrayed in the movie “Erin Brockovich” and appeared alongside his estranged wife Erika Jayne on the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” testified briefly before Judge Josephine L. Staton in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

As he stepped down from the stand, his pants sagged, showing his boxers. He lurched, reached down, and pulled them back up, smiling slightly as he walked back to his seat. He wasn’t wearing a belt.

Girardi’s public defender, Charles Snyder, made a factual record of the incident after Staton ruled from the bench that he will be able to reside in a Bureau of Prisons facility. Staton will determine the length of his sentence and other conditions Tuesday.

Girardi testified briefly, his voice more hoarse than when he spoke at his August wire fraud trial. He said on the stand that after the hearing, he’d be picked up by a staff member of the Girardi Keese law firm and he’d go back to the office. The firm has been shuttered for years, and Girardi was disbarred in 2022.

Despite Girardi’s confusion, he was polite, followed instructions, and said he knew he had memory issues, showing he’ll be able to function day-to-day in a federal prison, Staton said.

“You can make a record that I saw that his pants started to drop,” Staton said after she ruled from the bench. She noted he recovered, kept hold of them, and appeared to be embarrassed, showing again his situational awareness.

‘High Water Mark’

Earlier this year, Girardi spent six weeks at the Federal Medical Center, Butner prison hospital to be evaluated on his suitability for prison time.

Brianna Grover, a forensic psychologist who worked on Girardi’s report, recalled Girardi saying he never married Erika Jayne, who also goes by Erika Girardi. The two are still legally married.

When he arrived at the facility in early January he identified the current president as Joe Biden and the previous one as Bill Clinton, she said. He made a handwritten note indicating he thought he was in the North Carolina prison hospital for a board meeting, Grover said, and once threatened staff with a lawsuit.

Girardi’s public defender Sam Cross said the way Girardi is currently presenting is a “high water mark” and his mental condition will deteriorate.

“He can’t handle himself,” Cross argued."He has to be very carefully handled by other people.”

Prosecutor Scott Paetty said Girardi would be designated for placement in a prison with the highest possible level of medical care, and relocated if his condition grows significantly worse.

At FMC Butner, outside the hours of his targeted medical evaluation, Girardi was observed sitting with other patients, alert, attentive, and calm, Paetty noted.

Staton found the report from FMC Butner more persuasive than the defense witnesses, who’d never met Girardi.

“There are others who are frail” or have a mental illness and are incarcerated, Staton said.

Girardi has dementia, but Staton has repeatedly found him competent to stand trial. He was convicted in August on four counts of wire fraud, after a jury heard testimony he ran a scheme to steal settlement funds from his personal injury clients to fund luxuries at his firm.

The hearing was scheduled for May. Staton pushed it after Girardi was hospitalized the night before with “liver dysfunction.”

Staton’s ruling clears a path for Girardi to be sentenced to prison on his 86th birthday.

Prosecutors seek a 14-year prison sentence, while Girardi’s defense team wants him to stay in a locked memory care facility.

The case is USA v. Girardi, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-cr-00047, 6/2/25.