Both the Butler County District Attorney's office and Public Defenders' office have called back their attorneys to catch up with proceedings for the eventual reopening of the court system. Butler County's courtrooms are entered through the county government building.

Facing months of rescheduled and delayed criminal court proceedings, Butler County's District Attorney and Public Defender offices are preparing for a “flood” of cases once the court system permits public access.

Since mid-March, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared a judicial emergency across all state judicial districts, ramping up a previous order giving president judges emergency powers to respond to COVID-19.

The order is in effect until at least June 1, and Judge William Shaffer, as the acting administrative judge in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, intends to stay the course.

The order led District Attorney Richard Goldinger to reduce office staff from eight prosecutors to two assistant district attorneys, and the Public Defender office, charged with representing the indigent in criminal cases, was down to three attorneys from six.

With an eye on the eventual reopening of the courts, Goldinger and Public Defender Kevin Flaherty brought their legal cadres back last week.

Goldinger and Flaherty both made their decisions independently in the hopes of catching up with all of the court proceedings — such as sentence court and formal arraignments — that have been mostly on hold since the court's closure prevented large court gatherings.

“It was a good move,” Flaherty said. “When we start opening to the public, we're going to have a backlog of cases and we need to dispense with those cases, requiring our staff to be back at full strength.”

Goldinger made a similar observation, noting that the rescheduled cases number in the hundreds and assistant district attorneys have been furloughed for about six weeks, requiring a warmup to ease back into the system.

“(Cases) can't be resolved in court yet, but we can get them ready for when we open up,” he said. “Once we get the green light, we're ready to go. Whatever normal will be, I want (the assistant district attorneys) back and up to speed all ready for when we start.”

Goldinger said the choice to come back to work was voluntary and that some clerical staff at his office opted to continue to be furloughed over virus concerns.

Since the court's closure, criminal proceedings have been held only for those who are incarcerated or have violated their paroles. But, on Monday, there was a glimmer of what the new normal might look like as formal arraignments were held in the afternoon under a modified procedure.

Formal arraignments, like other “bulk courts,” as Goldinger described it, typically require defendants who are facing criminal charges to gather all at once in either Shaffer's courtroom or Judge Timothy McCune's courtroom, depending where they have been assigned. Under the Supreme Court and Shaffer's mandate, this setup isn't allowed, in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

So, on Monday, attorneys from the district attorney and public defenders' offices met defendants at the entrance to the government building after following COVID-19 virus precautions including a body temperature check. There, Goldinger said, they either waived their formal arraignment to move their case along or they rescheduled their formal arraignment.

“It's a way of saying we're getting ready to go,” Goldinger said. “This is the first one we've done since the middle of March that's not for incarcerated defendants.”

Goldinger and Flaherty expect that when courts reopen to the public, there will be a number of cases after several weeks of being put on hold.

“We're going to have to deal with them. Rather than being spread out, they're all going to come back at one time,” Goldinger said. “It's like the dam is going to break at some point once we start.”

Goldinger expects the courts to open by June 1. But even then, Goldinger said, there will have to be measures in place to prevent the potential spreading of the virus.

“I don't know how things are going to look. We're discussing video capability, but that's limited,” Goldinger said. “There's all kinds of unanswered questions that you just took for granted before.”

And for private attorneys, the chance to return to normal proceedings is welcomed.

“We haven't been able to conduct business since the middle of March. I haven't been seeing anybody, nor filing things and not having hearings,” said Armand Cingolani, a private attorney based in Butler. “If you're not seeing new clients and you're not able to work for current clients, you have no income whatsoever. If you can't go to court, you can't make a living.”