How to Search Criminal Dockets
Where you search depends on which court is handling the charge. Misdemeanors, traffic tickets, bond events, and felony preliminary hearings all live in Magistrate Court. Start with the Magistrate Case Record Search. Once a felony reaches an indictment, plea, trial, sentence, or appeal, the Circuit Court docket takes over. WVPASS is the public portal for those case records. Typing a name works. But an exact case number, matched to the right court, cuts down wrong hits fast, and WVPASS is where Circuit records live. MCRSearch is free. You can query it by first name, last name, or case number. Just clear its disclaimer and CAPTCHA screen first. WVPASS asks for free registration and may add a small charge when you download a court document. For old files, restricted material, or anything you need certified, the Pleasants County clerk is still the office to call.
- Identify whether the event belongs to Magistrate Court or Circuit Court.
- Open MCRSearch for a lower-court matter or WVPASS for a Circuit criminal file.
- Enter the exact name or number, narrow to Pleasants County, and compare filing details.
- Read the charge, settings, disposition, and document list without treating a short entry as the signed order.
- Record the case number and ask the proper clerk for any missing, plain, or certified document.
The Pleasants Criminal Search Has a 30-Result Ceiling
MCRSearch caps its results at 30 records. That ceiling can bite fast. Common surnames fill it easily, and so does a filing made under a spelling you did not expect. A short list of hits does not mean every Pleasants County criminal docket under that name showed up. When you know the case number, add it; when you do not, use the exact spelling printed on a court notice. The Magistrate Court Clerk can also confirm what the search missed.
If a likely case is missing: save the search terms, note the expected filing period, and call Pam Cox at 304-684-7197 with enough detail to locate the file.
A result may list a name, birthdate, filing date, charge, disposition, and document names. No images come with it. That gap is why a Pleasants County criminal docket search can locate an event yet still send you to the clerk for the paper.
What a Criminal Docket Shows
Think of a public docket as an event index, not the whole criminal file. It lines up the identifier, charge, papers, hearings, orders, and outcome in order. Fields vary by court and access level. A protected document can stay hidden even when its event shows on the public list.
| Case Number | The identifier used to narrow either portal; lower-court payment case IDs may resemble ##-M##X-#####. |
|---|---|
| Charge | The public offense description. Read the complaint, citation, indictment, or information for charging detail. |
| Filing and Settings | Dates for papers and events such as preliminary examination, arraignment, motion hearing, trial, or sentencing. |
| Plea and Orders | A plea event and later court orders may appear as separate entries and separate documents. |
| Disposition | The reported result, such as dismissal, conviction, acquittal, or transfer; the signed judgment is stronger proof. |
Pleasants Criminal Results and Documents Are Two Layers
The two portals do not deliver the same product. MCRSearch gives lower-court case information and document names, never images. WVPASS can provide public Circuit documents dating back to 1999, subject to registration, charges, and access limits. When the portal stops short, the clerk supplies the document layer.
| Channel | Useful for | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| MCRSearch | Misdemeanor, citation, and preliminary case information | Up to 30 results and no online documents |
| WVPASS | Public Circuit activity and documents | Coverage begins in 1999; downloads may carry a charge |
| Clerk file | Inspection, older material, copies, and certification | Seals and confidentiality rules still control |
CourtPLUS E-File serves approved filing users and court staff, not public readers. One feature does help the public, though. Verify an Order checks the alpha-numeric reference code stamped on an e-filed order. To find the case itself, use WVPASS or the clerk.
Stages on a Criminal Docket
A lower-court criminal docket may open with a complaint, warrant, or citation. A felony can then show a preliminary examination and a probable-cause decision before the case moves to Circuit Court. On the Circuit side, the file may begin with an indictment or information and run through arraignment, motions, continuances, plea or trial, judgment, sentence, probation events, and appeal. Not every case uses every step.
Docket flow: Complaint or Citation › Preliminary Examination › Indictment or Information › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
A motion to continue only asks to move a setting. It never erases the charge. An expungement petition on a Pleasants County criminal docket likewise shows that relief was requested, not granted. The later signed order controls.
Follow a Pleasants Felony Across Two Dockets
A felony can create two linked records. Each has its own number. Magistrate Court handles the warrant or complaint and the preliminary examination. If the case advances, Circuit Court takes over. It holds the indictment or information, trial-level motions, plea or trial, judgment, and sentence. Searching one system may show just one stage of the prosecution.
Start in MCRSearch when the event is a warrant, bond matter, or preliminary examination. Write down the charge, filing date, outcome, and any transfer entry. Then move to WVPASS for the later Pleasants County Circuit filing. The bridge between the two files can be unclear. Ask Pam Cox for the Magistrate record. Ask Millie Farnsworth for the Circuit record. A missing second result does not mean the case was dismissed.
Which Court Holds Criminal Dockets
Pleasants County Magistrate Court handles county misdemeanors, citations, and felony preliminary examinations. Pam Cox keeps those records in Room B-6 of the Pleasants County Courthouse. Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court for felony indictments and trials. It carries statutory criminal and appellate authority as well. Millie Farnsworth keeps its files in Room 201.
Sharing an address does not make the offices interchangeable. Both offices sit inside the courthouse at 301 Court Lane, St. Marys. Ask the Magistrate clerk for a lower-court misdemeanor or preliminary case. Ask the Circuit Clerk for a felony Circuit case. Municipal ordinance cases stay with the issuing city unless an appeal reaches Circuit Court. Federal criminal cases run through PACER, not either state portal.
Room B-6 Is the Pleasants Document Fallback
Magistrate clerk offices keep public terminals. The local page lists Pam Cox in Room B-6. Ask there to see a file or to get copies. Under Administrative Rule 11, magistrate photocopies run $0.25 per page. Faxing costs $2 per transmitted page. Settle the total and the delivery method before anything goes out.
Circuit records live in Room 201. You can also call 304-684-3513. West Virginia Code §59-1-11 sets $1 per page for Circuit copies or any papers leaving the office. Mail, fax, or email all work. But spell out the court, case number, caption, the exact document, date range, copy type, delivery address, and your contact details. Millie Farnsworth takes faxes at 304-684-3514 and email at millie.farnsworth@courtswv.gov. Pam Cox's fax is 304-684-3882.
Pleasants Criminal Docket Access Beyond the Portals
Portals are just one channel. The full fallback chain for a Pleasants County court docket runs through the clerk by phone, the counter and supervised inspection area, a public terminal, and a targeted request by mail, fax, or email. West Virginia FOIA also allows an oral or written request to the custodian. The request must describe the records with reasonable specificity. From there the custodian must act as soon as practicable and within five days. Weekends and legal holidays do not count. The response is producing the record, naming a time and place for inspection, or denying it in writing with reasons.
- Call Pam Cox at 304-684-7197 for lower-court information and copies.
- Call Millie Farnsworth at 304-684-3513 for Circuit files, older material, or certification.
- Visit Room B-6 or Room 201 at 301 Court Lane for the correct docket.
- Send a specific request identifying an existing file, document, or date range.
- Ask for the written legal basis if public access is denied.
FOIA lets an office charge what copies actually cost to reproduce. It does not allow a separate fee for the labor of searching or retrieving. A bulky request can still call for reasonable handling, so describe the document narrowly and you will get it faster.
Public Access and Sealed Criminal Dockets
Public access never promised that every paper shows up online. A Pleasants County criminal docket can leave out sealed material, protected identifiers, juvenile records, personal-safety papers, or mental-health information. Anything restricted by statute, court rule, order, or e-filing redaction rules can stay out too. So a missing entry or image tells you nothing. It does not establish the charge. It does not establish the result or the reason for the restriction.
Key Rules:
West Virginia Code §51-4-2 provides inspection and copying unless access is expressly limited.
Trial Court Rules 10.03 and 10.04 govern access limits, inspection, copying, and electronic form.
West Virginia FOIA §29B-1-3 sets the specific-request process, response period, reproduction-cost rule, and denial remedy.
Sealed records: The clerk cannot undo a sealing order. Ask whether a court record is sealed, temporarily unavailable, or open only to a party or counsel, then follow whatever procedure the court identifies.