For the episode of the same name, see Jimmy (episode).
Jimmy LaMotta was a mentally disabled young man, whom Sam helped twice.
About Jimmy LaMotta[]
Jimmy, a man with Down Syndrome, was the younger brother of dockworker Frank LaMotta (John D'Aquino) (Who called him slow for his down syndrome). His mental retardation had caused him to be brought up in an institution. By his early 20s he was educated enough to function fairly normally—having a mental age of about 12—and was released, to live with Frank and his family in Oakland California, 1964.
Dr. Beckett's leap into Jimmy[]
Sam leaps into Jimmy just before his first day working on the local docks with Frank, with his mission being to mainstream Jimmy and by holding down the job and helping him be accepted by his colleagues and by Frank's wife Connie (Laura Harrington). He faced severe prejudice and bullying at first, but ultimately succeeded and secured Jimmy's future.
In 1954, the point of time which Sam leaps into, assuming the body of a Sam Bederman, he suffers a session of electro-shock treatment which temporarily erased his true identity. This caused personalities of his previous leapees to take over. One of the personas he assumed was that of Jimmy.
Sam later became Jimmy again in 1966, and found that Connie had been replaced by another time traveller, Alia. He had to prevent her from destroying the family and returning Jimmy to the institution.