---
aliases:
  - Joseph Leo McGlynn Jr.
  - Joseph L. McGlynn
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
  - Person
  - Judge
  - FederalJudiciary
  - Philadelphia
  - RCHorsch
summary: "Federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, appointed by Nixon in 1974, who sentenced R.C. Horsch in 1985 to three years for manufacturing methamphetamine."
born: 1925-02-13
died: 1999-02-23
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
  - type: employed_by
    with: "[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]"
    role: "district judge"
    start: 1974-03-08
    end: 1999-02-23
    fn: 1
  - type: appointed
    with: "[[Richard Nixon]]"
    reverse: true
    start: 1974-01-31
    fn: 1
  - type: employed_by
    with: "[[Executive Office for United States Attorneys|United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]"
    role: "assistant United States attorney"
    start: 1953
    end: 1960
    fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Joseph Leo McGlynn Jr. (February 13, 1925, to February 23, 1999) was a judge of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] from 1974 until his death. In April 1985 he sentenced [[R.C. Horsch]], then Raymond Charles Hoersch, to three years in prison for manufacturing methamphetamine, the charge on which Hoersch had jumped bail in 1977 before living in [[New Zealand]] under a stolen identity.[^1][^2]

### Career

McGlynn was born in [[Philadelphia]]. He served in the [[United States Navy]] from 1943 to 1946, took a B.S. at Mount St. Mary's College in 1948 and an LL.B. at the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]] in 1951, and was an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1953 to 1960. After five years in private practice in Philadelphia he became a judge of the Philadelphia County Court in 1965 and of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County in 1968. [[Richard Nixon]] nominated him to the federal bench on January 31, 1974, to the seat vacated by Thomas A. Masterson; the Senate confirmed him on March 1, and his commission issued on March 8, 1974. He took senior status on February 14, 1990, and died in [[Cancun]], [[Mexico]], on February 23, 1999.[^1]

### The Hoersch Sentence

Hoersch had been arrested by the [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] in February 1977, jumped bail, and was arrested by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in [[Florida]] in 1984. Sentencing him on the drug-manufacturing count, McGlynn said that "anybody who has a speed lab ought to know he's going to jail." Judge [[Donald W. Van Artsdalen]] added a year and a day for bail-jumping, for a total of four years.[^2]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "McGlynn, Joseph Leo, Jr." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/mcglynn-joseph-leo-jr
[^2]: Smith, Jim. "Fugitive's Luck Runs Out With 4-Year Jail Sentence," *Philadelphia Daily News,* April 27, 1985, p. 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/185948055/