Philadelphia family court judge charged with assaulting his wife and daughter
Michael Fanning, who has served as a Philadelphia Common Pleas judge since 2014, faces assault charges.
A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge was arrested Monday night after prosecutors say he repeatedly punched his wife in the face, strangled her, and then assaulted their daughter.
Michael Fanning, 60, has been charged with aggravated assault, strangulation, and related crimes in the connection with the alleged attack inside the couple’s East Torresdale home. Prosecutors said he also pulled his daughter to the ground by her hair, causing her to cut her face.
Fanning was appointed to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas bench in 2014 by then-Gov. Tom Corbett. He won a 10-year term in the 2015 election, and was retained for another term in November. He has been serving as a family court judge throughout his tenure.
Before becoming a judge, the Temple University Law School graduate worked in private practice and as an assistant district attorney in Bucks County, where he prosecuted child abuse cases.
A spokesperson for the Philadelphia courts didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Bail magistrate Lauren Connor agreed to release Fanning on $200,000 unsecured bail — meaning he would not have to post money to be freed — as part of an agreement between prosecutors and his attorney.
Fanning appeared at the hearing by video from a holding cell alongside his attorney, Tom Pfender. He wore a black tracksuit with sunglasses resting on top of his head. Pfender said his client intended to plead not guilty.
The bail magistrate said an emergency protection-from-abuse order was issued Monday barring Fanning from contacting his wife and daughter, who is 30 years old, according to public records. She also ordered him to stay away from them and warned that if he violated any terms of his release — or appeared before her again on a domestic-violence case — she would set bail at $1 million.
“Do you understand?” she asked the judge.
“100%,” Fanning said.
The arrest and charges do not automatically remove Fanning from the bench, but he could face suspension or removal by state judiciary officials. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Court swiftly suspended without pay sitting traffic court judges who were indicted in 2013 as part of a ticket-fixing scandal.
Fanning’s arrest is the latest in a series of disciplinary issues that Philadelphia judges have faced in the last few years, though the only one to include criminal charges.
Judge Scott DiClaudio has been suspended without pay since November amid allegations that he sought to influence a colleague’s decision in a case with ties to rapper Meek Mill. And Judge Mark B. Cohen was removed from the bench in 2024 after refusing to stop posting political statements on Facebook.