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Bradford County judge vacancy

Bradford County judge vacancy - Friday, January 4, 2008 at 6:08PM EST

Friday, Jan 4, 2008 @06:08pm EST

Right now, there's only one judge at the Bradford County courthouse.

That's because people voted longtime Court of Common Pleas Judge John Mott out of office in November.

Current Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Smith talked to WBRE news about the vacancy.

Judge Smith and his staff have to pick up the slack.

It's the result of Judge John Mott being voted out of office by nearly a 2 to 1 margin last November.

Now, some court cases could be pushed back.

Here at the Bradford county courthouse, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Smith is taking all cases.

Judge Smith says, "Our workforce has been cut in half and like any workplace, that means everybody else has to pick up the slack."

The court usually has two judges, but John Mott, seen here, was voted out last November, after 19 years on the bench.

Mott's wife served 9 months in prison for stealing thousands from the Canton Borough Authority.

He denied knowing about the crime, but many used that as a reason to vote against him.

Judge Smith says the courthouse was ready if Mott wasn't re-elected.

"We were aware that it was a distinct possibility, of course, yes. And we tried to make some contingency plans but we didn't go too far down that road. "

Judge Smith says his workload has nearly doubled.

He says meeting strict deadlines for criminal and juvenile cases, could push other cases back.

Now he and courthouse staff are waiting for Governor Rendell to appoint a new judge, from a pool of local candidates.

The whole process, start to finish, of replacing a judge here at the courthouse, could take as short as 6 months, but judge smith says he's seen some instances where it's taken as long as 18 months.

The Bradford County bar association, and democratic party are recommending certain candidates.

After the governor appoints a judge, it goes to state senate for approval.

Judge Smith hopes it all happens soon.

"I hope people will be patient and understand that we're not going to get things done as quickly as we can, and we're going to do what we can."

All while waiting to get another full time judge on the bench.

Judge Smith says if things get too backed up, his staff can ask the State Supreme Court to assign visiting judges to help.