District Justice David J. Murphy given probation in election-petition forgeries

David J. Murphy, the district justice in Aston accused of forging signatures on his renominating petition in 2009, pleaded guilty Wednesday and was immediately sentenced to four years of probation.

Bucks County Senior Judge John J. Rufe, who heard the case by special arrangement with Delaware County Court, accepted Murphy's plea during a 30-minute hearing in Media. Murphy waived a presentencing investigation.

"I'm satisfied that you are a good person who has made some bad choices," Rufe said.

In pronouncing sentence, the judge said Murphy's stellar role as a lawyer and public servant over the years was a mitigating factor.

Murphy must perform 200 hours of community service within the first two years of probation. He declined to comment after the hearing.

His attorney, Arthur T. Donato Jr. of Media, said: "I think under the circumstances it's an appropriate and fair sentence. It's just an unfortunate tragedy."

Murphy pleaded guilty to 64 counts of forgery, identity theft, and the making of false signatures. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and one count of criminal conspiracy.

He told Rufe that he had spent his "whole life being a good guy" but, due to intense personal and family turmoil on one day, had made the unwise decision to circumvent the election process.

"It was self-destructive," Murphy testified. "I had nothing to gain by it. I was unopposed on the ballot."

If given probation, he said, he would "try to come back to where I'm supposed to be."

Murphy, 57, of Scott Road in Aston, was arrested March 29 and charged with forgery, records tampering, identity theft, perjury, conspiracy, and violations of Pennsylvania's election laws.

He has been on paid leave since August, when allegations of irregularities surfaced concerning 64 signatures on his 2009 nominating petition.

At a news conference in March, Delaware County District Attorney Mike Green said his special prosecutions unit had begun an investigation after hearing the allegations.

The probe included interviews with 225 witnesses and input from a handwriting specialist, Green said. The probe uncovered 64 phony signatures, including two from Neumann University students, whose names appeared twice although they never signed the petition, Green said.

Murphy, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2004, has held his elected court post since 1991. He easily won reelection Nov. 3.

He is one of two Delaware County district judges to have run afoul of the law in less than a year. Haverford District Judge Gerald Liberace, 69, of Havertown, turned himself in to authorities in Media on June 30. He's accused of inappropriately touching his stepdaughter, then 12, while the girl's mother was at the Jersey Shore in August 2004.

Liberace's preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 26.