Topeka ? A panel overseeing judicial conduct has recommended that Saline County District Judge George Robertson be removed from his job for viewing Internet pornography on his office computer.

Five of the seven panel members of the Commission on Judicial Qualifications found that Robertson’s behavior violated canons of judicial conduct against impropriety and demeaning the integrity and impartiality of the court. The panel also determined evidence submitted by Robertson at a hearing earlier this month in Topeka wasn’t sufficient to overcome findings against him.

The recommendation was announced Thursday and goes to the Kansas Supreme Court, which has final say on the fate of Robertson’s job.

A county computer technician discovered in early February that the judge had visited numerous pornographic sites on his county-owned computer. Robertson, 56, admitted that he viewed porn while at work in his Salina office, blaming it on stress from his duties as a church elder and a caseload of more than 3,000 cases a year.

Robertson, who has been a district judge for 10 years, appeared before the state’s Commission on Judicial Qualifications last month in an attempt to keep his job.

“I understand the immorality on a personal basis,” Robertson told the commission. “I understand the breach of confidence to the judiciary. : The colleagues on this panel have my apology.”

State officials said Robertson has continued to receive full pay since Feb. 9, when he was restricted to administrative duties. His annual salary is $104,522, but other benefits, such as pension contributions and health insurance, push his total compensation to more than $139,000.

Robertson said he spent countless hours as an elder of his church and that he had spread himself too thin between his judicial work and his church obligations. He has since left his position at the church and has been on administrative leave from his judicial post.