Judge Smith warns backlog could take years; council approves funding for court reporter

Judge Smith told the Daviess County Council on April 18 that a combination of judicial conflicts, COVID-era delays and transferred dockets has left circuit court with a substantial backlog that could take an estimated two to three years to clear.

"We had 88 cases came over since March the 9th," Judge Smith said, and recounted that in late 2024 and through 2025 hundreds of cases arrived from other dockets (he cited figures of about 325 and 407 in two periods). He said some transferred cases were older nonviolent matters that were administratively culled, but that the overall influx and the need to avoid conflicts after a former prosecutor became a judge have significantly increased workload.

Judge Smith recommended additional staffing, including adding a court reporter position to cover hearings and the referee court. Council discussion referenced weighted caseload metrics used by the state and the difficulty of getting a new judicial officer approved at the legislature. Judge Smith said converting a county-paid referee to a state-paid magistrate would help long term but would require legislative approval.

Later in the meeting the council approved an appropriation to fund the court reporter position and associated employment costs (health insurance, payroll taxes and related items) for the current year; council members also recorded that the salary ordinance could be adjusted as part of the motion. Council members said analytics being built for case tracking will inform any end-of-year reevaluation.

The decision provides immediate budgeted staff capacity for the courts; Judge Smith and county officials said they will continue working with the prosecutor's office and state judicial administrators on longer-term solutions, including the magistrate conversion and legislative outreach.