A Clackamas County judge locked inside her courtroom on a weekend earlier this month used a bench to try to break open the courtroom doors, causing damages the county says will cost $3,000 to repair.

The repairs include reinstalling marble on the framing above Judge Susie Norby's courtroom doors and will be paid through the county's general fund, said Tim Heider, a county spokesman. The Oregon City-based courthouse is run by the county, and the general fund is made up of revenue that includes property taxes.

Norby, a county circuit judge since 2007, said she inadvertently locked herself in her courtroom late March 4, away from her key and cellphone. She was trapped in the third-floor courtroom for more than an hour before being let out by a deputy on duty.

But before he arrived, she apparently loosened the marble at the top of the exterior of the door when she repeatedly used a wooden bench from the court gallery as a battering ram in an effort to escape.

She said she didn't realize there were any issues until the next day, when a court staffer pointed out the marble above her door was loose. Facilities maintenance workers removed it as a precaution, the judge said. That's also when she told presiding judge Kathie Steele and maintenance supervisor about getting locked in, she said. Norby said safeguards have since been put into place to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

One of Norby's courtroom doors also has an estimated 2-inch split that needs to be fixed.

"I feel deeply sad to have caused harm to our beautiful and historic building," Norby said. "It is a building I cherish, respect and am proud and grateful to work in."

Steele was unavailable for comment Friday.

Norby said she offered to pay for the damage, but was later told the cost was believed to be negligible and for labor only. She said the repeated ramming didn't crack the marble and the same piece has since been reinstalled above the courtroom doors.

According to Norby, she went to the courthouse around 9 p.m. on March 4 to prepare for the Monday morning docket. The courthouse had been open the day before for a high school mock trial competition. As a security precaution related to that, hard keys, rather than the keycards normally used, were required to open doors from the courtroom to the judge's chambers.

The courtroom doors that lead to the hallway require a hard key to open from either side, she said. Those doors are locked that way whenever the courthouse is closed.

Norby said she went into her chambers, put her key and cell phone on her desk, then walked out into the courtroom to get a book. The door closed behind her, locking her in.

No one else was coming to the courthouse until Monday morning.

She said she hit an alarm button in the courtroom, but no one came. She used the computer at her bench and emailed an "SOS" to several sheriff's deputies but didn't immediately receive a response.

"I did not know for sure whether any were on duty that night, or whether my message would get caught in their junk folders, or whether they would check their messages anytime soon even if they were on duty," Norby said in a statement. "So I looked for another way out."

The judge, who is about 5-foot-7, said the courtroom doors leading to the hallway moved a little when she pushed against them, so she thought she'd be able to pop the deadbolt locking the door if she could move it far enough. She said she wasn't strong enough to shove the locked doors open. So she picked up a short, heavy wooden bench which she described as 5 to 6 feet long, tipped it to one side and repeatedly rammed the top of it into the courtroom doors.

"It seemed as if I was very close to popping [the deadbolt] open, but it was harder than I thought," Norby said.

Norby said she took a break, checked her emails and saw a message from one deputy on duty. He said he didn't have a key to the courthouse, but said he'd find a way to let her out and would be there soon.

The judge rammed the doors again a few more times anyway. No luck.

"Then I sat down, trusting that the deputy sheriff would come to get me soon," she said. "He arrived a short while later and let me out."

Norby said she got out of the courtroom around 10:30 p.m.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey