She was first appointed to the Court in 1986, serving a seven-year term on the bench in Morris County, New Jersey, while she was a resident of Chatham Township.
Despite endorsements from the New Jersey State Bar Association and advocacy groups for custodial parents, Dorsey indicated that he had received complaints that she "giggles and throws pencils on the desk during testimony".
Dorsey eventually relented to some degree and stated that he would agree to allow Judge Murphy to be appointed to a new, untenured seven-year term.
Judge Murphy declined on the grounds that the process of refusing her an untenured term without a hearing in the Senate posed a threat to judicial independence.
[5] In 2005, Judge Espinosa was nominated by Governor Richard Codey to a seat on the Superior Court in Union County.