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On one of the darkest days within the Luzerne County Courthouse on Jan. 26, 2009, Judge Chester B. Muroski pledged to restore public confidence when news broke that two judges were indicted on corruption charges.
				It took some time for the county&rsquo;s judiciary to recover but it happened under Muroski&rsquo;s leadership as he was elected president judge who guided the courthouse through those dark times.
				Muroski, 80, of Bear Creek Village, died Wednesday at Paoli Hospital in Chester County.
				An obituary says Muroski succumbed to the COVID-19 virus.
				&ldquo;I had the pleasure of practicing before Judge Muroski for many years once he began presiding over criminal cases. He was always fair to counsel on both sides and was always a perfect gentleman and a fine judge,&rdquo; said Attorney Nanda Palissery.
				Muroski was no stranger to the courthouse halls.
				He was appointed as an assistant district attorney in 1968, promoted to first assistant district attorney in 1976 and became district attorney in March 1978 when then district attorney Patrick J. Toole became a judge.
				Muroski won a full four-year term as district attorney in 1979, and won a seat on the bench in the 1981 election. He was retained for 10-year terms in the 1991 and 2001 elections.
				As a judge, Muroski spent nearly 23 years presiding over Orphan&rsquo;s and Family Court before being reassigned in 2005 to criminal and civil cases.
				At age 69, when many have retired or considering retirement, Muroski took the reigns of leading the county judiciary following he indictments of judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella in January 2009.
				Muroski was chosen to lead the court by virtue of his nearly 30 years of experience on the bench despite his intention to retire at the end of that year.
				&ldquo;What occurred here was unprecedented, probably the worst case of judicial misconduct in the history of the state or even the country. I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like it, and I&rsquo;m on the bench almost 30 years,&rdquo; Muroski told the Times Leader on Dec. 28, 2010
				Muroski became a senior judge in 2011 and retired in 2017.
				See Friday&rsquo;s newspaper for an expanded version of this story.

Former Luzerne County Judge Chester B. Muroski, 80, dies of COVID-19