Some things in the court system in Mercer County are changing as a result of one criminal.

Charles D. Norris, 30, formerly of Farrell, is serving a 12- to 29-year prison sentence for assaulting and severely burning Crystal Bailey, 25, of Sharon.

Before the Sept. 30 assault on Ms. Bailey, Norris had been arrested four other times in the last two years and once in 1990 and 1991. All of his arrests involved assaults or harassment of women.

"People like Mr. Norris are truly an aberration in Mercer County," District Attorney James P. Epstein said. "There are lessons in terms of taking steps so we can identify people like Mr. Norris early on."

Norris was released on bail at the county court level on numerous occasions. At one point, Epstein said his office asked to have Norris' bond revoked, but the request was denied.

"The judge made a call and, again, hindsight is always 20/20," Epstein said. "We don't always agree with every decision of the court, but we believe the court acts in good faith."

Limited space in the county jail creates a problem, Epstein said. Every day, he and President Judge Francis J. Fornelli review the jail list and have to decide whom to release to make room for new prisoners, Epstein said.

"One consequence (of the small jail) is judges have to make extraordinarily difficult decisions over who can and cannot be released. I know that they agonize over them, because we do too," Epstein said.

Epstein added that in Pennsylvania bond is not meant as a sentence, but to ensure that a defendant appears at his hearing.

A case like Norris' can be very frustrating because he and others commit a substantial number of misdemeanor offenses. "We're lucky that the vast majority of the times the judges make the right call in trying to determine who is truly dangerous as opposed to a chronic small offender," he said.

"I have great empathy for the judges who make the calls, and the people who reside in a small town and see thugs walking the street and know that they're thugs," Epstein said.

Epstein said that when court officials realized after the fact that "Norris was what he was," Fornelli gave the district attorney's office the means to "fast-track" someone they believe could be dangerous into the bond hearings faster. "It puts us more on an equal playing field with the defense and gives us the opportunity to bring someone in (the system) who should be who's not on a faster basis," he said.

The county has put in place a new, computerized tracking system for defendants' case files, Epstein said. If a defendant's name is called up, every case pending against that person will appear instead of just one specific case, he said.

The district attorney's office is also changing who handles repeat offenders.

As a result of Norris, the same attorney will handle all cases involving a repeat offender, Epstein said. In the past, if a person had several cases in various court levels, there could a different prosecuting attorney for each case, he said.

Epstein said the policy change will allow the attorney to get "the big picture" when it comes to a specific defendant.

In Norris' case there was a problem with victims or witnesses who did not want to pursue the case against him, Epstein said.

"We get many domestic violence cases and we frequently encounter reconciled victims and defendants," Epstein said. He added that the situation with Norris was different.

"There may have been an intimidation factor there. In this case there appears to be changes of heart based on fear that weren't reported to the police at the times of the preliminary hearings," he said.

"We're fortunate in Mercer County that we don't have many people like Mr. Norris," Epstein said.

In the end, Epstein said he was satisfied with the sentence Norris received for the attack on Ms. Bailey. He said the sentence reflected that the judge realized Norris was a dangerous person. "We're very pleased with the sentence he imposed," Epstein said.