---
alias:
- Joseph Leo McGlynn Jr.
- Joseph L. McGlynn
born: 1925-02-13
category: Law Enforcement & Legal
created: 2026-09-23
died: 1999-02-23
location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
relations:
- end: 1999-02-23
  fn: 1
  role: district judge
  start: 1974-03-08
  type: employed_by
  with: '[[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]'
- fn: 1
  reverse: true
  start: 1974-01-31
  type: appointed
  with: '[[Richard Nixon]]'
- end: 1960
  fn: 1
  role: assistant United States attorney
  start: 1953
  type: employed_by
  with: '[[Executive Office for United States Attorneys|United States Attorney''s
    Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]'
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.
tags:
- Person
- Judge
- FederalJudiciary
- Philadelphia
- RCHorsch
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](/organizations/united-states-district-court-for-the-eastern-district-of-pennsylvania/) from 1974 until his death. In April 1985 he sentenced [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-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](/places/new-zealand/) under a stolen identity.[^1][^2]

### Career

McGlynn was born in Philadelphia. He served in the [United States Navy](/organizations/us-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](/people/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](/places/mexico/), on February 23, 1999.[^1]

### The Hoersch Sentence

Hoersch had been arrested by the [Drug Enforcement Administration](/organizations/dea/) in February 1977, jumped bail, and was arrested by the [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) in [Florida](/places/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](/people/donald-w-van-artsdalen/) added a year and a day for bail-jumping, for a total of four years.[^2]

[^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/