Butler now has more part-time judges than full-time ones.

The state enlisted three retired judges from surrounding counties to work part time on cases in Butler County, raising the total number of visiting judges to seven.

Butler's understaffing problems started when Judge Marilyn Horan left for a federal appointment, prompting a visiting judge to be called in to work for 10 days a month.

The latest visiting judges were summoned after two events.

In the first, the four full-time common pleas judges recused themselves from presiding over the case against John Paul Doerr III, who is accused of possessing child pornography. The judges recused themselves because his father is President Judge Thomas Doerr.

In the second event, Judge Doerr went on medical leave in January and has been out since then.

Senior judges are retired judges who work on a daily basis, if they want, and get paid $558 a day through the state's judicial funds, according to the Pennsylvania code. Butler County judges are paid $180,229 a year. President judges, such as Doerr, make $181,871 a year.

To address the need for judges, the state's court administration announced Friday that Senior Judge Tim Creany of Cambria County has been assigned to hear the case of John Paul Doerr.

In Judge Doerr's absence, the state assigned Judge Paul Lutty Jr. of Allegheny County to fill in. The state also assigned Judge Anthony Marsili from Westmoreland County, who will be presiding over a family court case.

But even with the new judges, the court system will not be operating at the full capacity of seven full-time judges. With part-time judges, there are only so many days they are permitted to work.

“The problem is that since we don't have any senior judges from our county, we have to rely on out-of-county senior judges,” Tom Holman, deputy district court administrator, said. “They may work in their own county, and occasionally they'll have a day or two to come to us and then we have to match their availability with the local court needs.

“So there's an effort to make sure cases are addressed in a timely fashion. We try to keep all of the cases current and on track.”

It's unclear when Judge Doerr will return, but his wife, Lori Doerr, said she anticipates that the judge, who was injured in a ski accident Jan. 5 and sustained a concussion, will be ready in 30 days to return to work.

“He's improved greatly,” Lori Doerr said Friday. “I'm really happy today and I feel like we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're back here working to get him back to work with everyone's full confidence.”