BRB's Public Records Blog

Oklahoma Okmulgee County Combines District Courts

Last month the Okmulgee County 24th Judicial District Court closed its Branch Court in Henryetta and moved the operation including closed case files to the main branch in Okmulgee. The District Court handles Felony, Misdemeanor, Civil, Eviction, Small Claims, Probate cases. Previously, an on-site records search necessitated visiting both locations. 

Kansas and Hawaii Courts Facing Closure Days

In a letter to court employees circulated in early November, Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis warned that KS state courts will have to close as much as 6 weeks from February through June if the Legislature fails to restore $8 million in budget cuts. Staff would be placed on unpaid leave. Since the letter was released, there has been talk of closing the courts for only 12 days, providing changes are implemented to meet the shortfall. Earlier this year, 18 Kansas counties cut back on their court hours open to the public. See www.kscourts.org/.

In October, the Supreme Court of Hawaii announced a 2-day per month furlough for all court employees, with the exception of juvenile detention facilities. A calendar of the closed days from November through June 2010 is posted on the web at www.courts.state.hi.us/.
 
The court closures in Kansas and Hawaii follow the example in California, whose court system is already operating on a furlough schedule that closes all state courts the third Wednesday of each month.
 

Fire Closes Attleboro, Massachusetts District Court

The Attleboro, Massachusetts District Court is closed indefinitely due to extensive smoke and water damage caused by a fire that happened on May 22, 2009. Name searches can still be conducted at a neighboring courthouse, but access to record files is unavailable until further notice.

Thank you to County House Research, Inc for this news.

Jurisdiction Alert

1. Harrison County Mississippi

On the 18th of February 2009 the Harrison County Circuit Clerk shut down the public access system for researchers. The clerk (Ms Gayle Parker, 228-865-4051) advises that the system will be down until 1 June 2009. Please expect delays on record research.

Reportedly, this shut down is for main maintenance, but it is believed that the court may be also redacting identifiers, including DOBs, from the public record.

Thanks to Mr. Jim Smith from Pro-Tech Investigations for this tip.

2. California State Offices

Beginning February 6, 2009 the DMV and many other state offices, will close the first and third Friday of each month. This closure is meant to help address the state's deficit of $42 billion.

3.  Maine – Cumberland County Courts – Criminal Record Search

In Maine, the District Courts handle misdemeanors and the Superior Courts handle felonies. Recently, one of Cumberland County’s three District Courts merged its criminal record division with the county’s Superior Court. Records from Portland District Court - South 9 were merged with the Superior Court criminal record database. The new court is designated as the Unified Court.  A criminal record search at the Unified Court will include a search of both courts. This merger does not affect civil or probate records held by the Portland District Court. Note the two other District Courts in Cumberland County (Bridgton District Court North 9 and Bath District Court East 6) each have a separate record database. Therefore, for a complete countywide criminal record search with misdemeanors, all three courts must be searched.

Thanks to Nils Nelson of Main Public Record Services for the heads up on this!

4.  Indiana Counties and New Online System
A handful of Indiana courts are now displaying their indices on an open access system, known as Odyssey, via the Internet. The combined courts in Monroe County were the first in the state to go online with Odyssey, and it has been a less than stellar success. Conversations with a few deputy clerks and judges' clerks have confirmed that in the transition from one computer network (available in the clerk's office or by online paid subscription) to the Odyssey open network, cases were "lost" and other data were missing. Also, certain identifying information beyond the name was the address at the time of charging; we all know the limitations with that. After protests wide and large from the legal community, the DOB has reappeared with the defendant's name and address on criminal case chronologies, now known as "case registries." However, the missing cases and other data transfer problems remain.  You can note the courts available through Odyssey at http://mycase.in.gov/   Courtesy of PRRN Member Don Johnson, Trace Investigations, Inc.