Joseph T. Murphy

[4] Murphy pledged to fight tax hikes and public housing expansion proposed by the Democrat-led city government.

[6] In 1968, Governor Raymond P. Shafer named Murphy to a seat on the Philadelphia Municipal Court and he won an uncontested election to a full term the following year.

[2] On that court, one of his most notable decisions was in the case of former CIA agent George Fassnacht, who was found to have a massive stockpile of munitions in his Fox Chase home.

[7] Murphy won a retention election in 1973 for another ten-year term on the bench and spent most of his time on the court presiding over criminal cases.

[8] No charges were filed over what turned out to be a common practice on the court, but the rules were changed the following year to prevent recurrences.