The Hon. Nancy L. Butts is a judge for the Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. She was elected to the bench on November 7, 1995.
Over the course of her judicial career, Butts has held assignments on the Lycoming County Drug Court since its formation in 1998. She has also presided over the DUI Court and the Juvenile Drug Court. Butts is credited with establishing the Lycoming County Mental Health Court in 2008 and the Heroin Task Force in 2013.
Butts earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, theater, and German from Lehigh University in 1980. She spent the next several months as an au pair in the Bavaria region of Germany before completing a J.D. at California Western School of Law in 1985.
After graduating from law school, Butts began her legal career as an assistant public defender for the Lycoming County Public Defender’s Office. She held that position until 1987, at which time she became a law clerk for the Hon. Clinton W. Smith of the Lycoming County Court of Common Pleas.
Then, in 1990, Butts entered into private practice. Her time there was brief. Later that year, she transferred to the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office, where she spent the next five years as an assistant district attorney.
She teaches criminal law in the Legal Assistant Paralegal Program at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Her memberships have included the Lycoming County Prison Board, the Lycoming County Criminal Justice Advisory Board, the Charles F. Greevy, Jr. American Inn of Court (president), and the Board of Directors of the Community Theatre League. She also sat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Criminal Procedural Rules Committee (chairperson).
Born and raised in Levittown, Pennsylvania, Butts is a certified EMT and a life member of Old Lycoming Township Volunteer Fire Company.
