Joseph E. McGettigan, a Delaware County prosecutor, longtime trial lawyer, and legal consultant, has been remembered in a Philadelphia Inquirer obituary
He won convictions in the murder case against John E. du Pont in 1997 and the child sexual abuse case against Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in 2012.
Joseph E. McGettigan III of Media died Dec. 31 at 76, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He was a former Delaware County first assistant district attorney, former Philadelphia assistant district attorney, former Pennsylvania chief deputy attorney general, former assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, and a former Pennsylvania senior deputy attorney general.
Born in West Philadelphia, Mr. McGettigan litigated in hundreds of trials over more than 30 years.
Then-Delaware County District Attorney Patrick L. Meehan described him in 1988 as “a fascinating character in a crime novel.”
Judge Jack Stollsteimer of Delaware County Court called Mr. McGettigan a “legendary prosecutor, a larger-than-life personality, and an avenging hero to crime victims across our Commonwealth.”
Mr. McGettigan worked for four Philadelphia district attorneys and was in Iraq in 2006 and 2009 as a legal advisor helping establish a criminal justice system after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Read more about the life of Joseph E. McGettigan in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
