Philadelphia Family Court Judge Michael Fanning has been suspended without pay after prosecutors charged him with assaulting his wife and adult daughter during a March 9 disturbance at his home in the city’s Torresdale section.
The case drew immediate attention because Fanning, 60, has spent years hearing family matters from the bench, including child custody disputes and some domestic violence cases. Now he is the defendant in a criminal case that includes felony counts of aggravated assault and strangulation, plus misdemeanor assault and reckless endangerment charges. The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline removed him from active service on March 12, effective at once, while the criminal case moves ahead. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 25, and no public response from Fanning or his lawyer had reshaped the allegations by March 19.
According to the criminal complaint described in court filings and local reports, the case began about 8:45 p.m. on Monday, March 9, when a Philadelphia police officer was sent to the 9600 block of Milnor Street after a report of screaming from inside a home. Investigators said the officer was met by a 58-year-old woman and her 30-year-old daughter, both of whom showed visible injuries. Prosecutors said the older woman, identified in courtroom reporting as Fanning’s wife, had been punched several times in the head and face, knocked to the floor and strangled during an argument. Police said the younger woman tried to step in, and Fanning then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the ground, leaving a cut near her eye and redness on her face. Fanning was arrested that night, and charges were formally filed the next day.
The public record released so far is narrow but serious. The complaint, as summarized by police and news outlets, said the older woman had a cut near one eye, swelling on her head and scratches on her neck when officers arrived. The daughter had a scratch above her eye and redness to her face. The Philadelphia County District Attorney’s Office charged Fanning with aggravated assault, strangulation, two counts of simple assault and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. Court records in the judicial discipline case show those criminal complaints were filed March 10 under two municipal court docket numbers. At an early bail proceeding, a magistrate barred Fanning from contacting the two women. Local courtroom reporting said he was released on unsecured bail, and the magistrate warned that violating the no-contact terms could bring a far higher bail amount. No plea on the criminal charges was reflected in the public material reviewed for this report, and the allegations remain unproven.
The arrest landed with extra force because of Fanning’s role in the court system. He has served on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas since July 2014, according to the Judicial Conduct Board’s suspension petition, and court officials said he worked mainly in Family Court. Before taking the bench, he served as an assistant district attorney in Bucks County, including work in the child abuse unit. CBS Philadelphia reported that he was retained in last year’s election with 85.8% of the vote, a reminder that he was not a little-known official suddenly thrust into public view. The case also raised a sharp question about institutional trust. The board wrote in its petition that the allegations “undermine both public confidence in the judiciary and its reputation.” It added that if Fanning kept presiding over cases while the criminal case was pending, public confidence in the courts would keep slipping.
The procedural timeline moved fast after the arrest. On March 11, the Judicial Conduct Board filed a petition asking the Court of Judicial Discipline to impose an interim suspension without pay. The next day, the court granted that request in a one-page order and said the suspension took effect immediately. Around the same time, a court spokesperson said the First Judicial District had already restricted Fanning’s access to court buildings and reassigned all of his cases. “The court moved expeditiously to restrict Judge Fanning’s access to the building and immediately reassigned all his cases,” the spokesperson said. That quick administrative response mattered because family court calendars can affect custody, support and safety disputes for many households at once. By removing Fanning from active duty before the criminal case reached a preliminary hearing, court leaders signaled that the accusations alone were serious enough to interrupt his judicial work while prosecutors try to prove them.
Much of the scene remains outside public view, but the fragments released so far paint a stark picture. Police were called because someone reported screaming, not because court officials had flagged a workplace problem or because the case began as a public scandal. The first officer on the scene encountered two injured women inside a private home, and the case then moved from a neighborhood call to a criminal prosecution and a judicial discipline matter within about 72 hours. The setting also added to the attention the case received. Torresdale is a far Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood better known for rowhouses, riverfront stretches and quiet blocks than for criminal charges against a sitting judge. Fanning’s attorney had not publicly commented in the reports reviewed for this story. That left the strongest public voices in the case coming from police paperwork, prosecutors and the court system itself, which acted quickly to separate him from the bench even before any courtroom test of the evidence.
As of March 19, Fanning remained suspended without pay, under a no-contact order and awaiting his next criminal court date. The next major milestone is his preliminary hearing, scheduled for March 25 at 9 a.m., when a judge will decide whether the case should move forward.
Author note: Last updated March 19, 2026.