Criminal Court Cases in Austin County
Austin County court cases divide by charge level. The 155th Judicial District Court hears felony cases after indictment, and the District Clerk keeps those files. The County Court at Law hears Class A and Class B misdemeanors as well as appeals from municipal and justice courts. Its misdemeanor filings are maintained by the County Clerk. Fine-only state-law and ordinance cases stay with the municipal or justice court where they began.
This split matters because a search at the wrong office may return nothing even when a case exists. A Bellville or Wallis citation may remain on a municipal docket. A precinct matter may sit with one of Austin County's four justice courts. The prosecutor files a complaint, information, or indictment, but the correct clerk is the public custodian of the resulting court case file.
| Court | Criminal work | Clerk contact |
|---|---|---|
| 155th District Court | Indicted felonies | 265 N. Chesley, Suite 1, Bellville; 979-270-6830 |
| County Court at Law | Class A/B misdemeanors and appeals | Suite 3; court 979-227-3131; clerk 979-227-3144 |
| Justice Courts 1-4 | Fine-only and precinct matters | Austin County justice-court directory |
| Municipal courts | City ordinance and fine-only matters | Contact Bellville, Sealy, or Wallis municipal court |
Austin County Court Clerks
The Austin County District Clerk is the first stop for an indicted felony. Sue Murphy's counter is in Suite 1 of the Austin County Justice Center and is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Public indexes and a terminal are available there. The clerk's direct line is 979-270-6830.
For misdemeanor court cases, use the Austin County Clerk. Diane Day's office is in Suite 7 at the same address. Its counter hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. The phone is 979-227-3144 and the published email is countyc@austincounty.com.
The official District Clerk profile shows where felony records are kept.
View the source for the Austin County District Clerk image.
That office-specific source avoids the common mistake of relying on the county site's shared courthouse address instead of the Justice Center.
Austin County Case Record Searches
Begin with the local public-access link from the District Clerk page. The interface and available documents can change, so save the case number, court, and status before leaving a result. re:SearchTX provides another statewide route, but registration is required for many functions and access depends on clerk participation and document permissions.
- Decide whether the charge is a felony, Class A/B misdemeanor, or fine-only matter.
- Open the local public-access system or re:SearchTX and search by the strongest known identifier.
- Match the result to the correct court, case number, filing date, and party.
- Read the docket and any document links the clerk permits online.
- Ask the correct clerk for a paper, electronic, or certified copy when the online view is incomplete.
The available statewide search fields are useful for narrowing similar names:
| Field label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Type | Selector | Yes | Choose person, business, attorney, or case |
| Last Name | Text | Conditional | Used for a person search |
| First Name | Text | No | Helps narrow common surnames |
| Case Number | Text | Conditional | Best when copied from an official notice |
| County | Selector | No | Choose Austin County to limit results |
| Date Filed | Date range | No | Narrows results by filing period |
See the official re:SearchTX source shown below.
The statewide screen is a finding aid, not a promise that every Austin County pleading is available online.
Mail an Austin County Case Search
An older or absent felony file can be searched through the District Clerk by mail. The clerk's official record-search procedure asks for the person's name, the period to be searched, the results wanted, payment, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Staff will not verify search results by telephone.
The published charge is $5 per person for a staff search. Copies cost $1 per page, and return by fax adds $2. Those amounts apply to the District Clerk procedure, not to every Austin County court. Ask the County Clerk or a lower court for its own current cost before ordering.
Note: A clerk search locates filed court cases; it does not create a statewide criminal-history report or confirm every arrest.
What a Criminal Case File Contains
An Austin County criminal case file tracks what occurred after a charge reached court. It is richer than a jail booking entry because it can show pleadings, hearings, counsel, financial entries, orders, the final outcome, and a sentence. It is also narrower than a Texas criminal-history record because it concerns one filed case rather than all reported arrest cycles linked to a person.
| Case number and court | Identifies the filing and the Austin County court with custody. |
|---|---|
| Charging document | The complaint, information, or indictment stating the filed allegations. |
| Docket entries | A dated event list for filings, settings, hearings, motions, and orders. |
| Hearing dates | Scheduled or completed settings, subject to later court changes. |
| Disposition and judgment | Dismissal, plea, trial result, acquittal, deferred adjudication, or conviction. |
| Sentence and conditions | The punishment and any court-ordered supervision, restitution, or other terms. |
A certified judgment or disposition is often the key document when a summary leaves an Austin County outcome unclear. DPS also instructs a person correcting a missing disposition in the state record to obtain a certified disposition from the court of jurisdiction.
Austin County Charge Levels
The County Court at Law page confirms the local misdemeanor and appellate role. A fine-only ticket may never reach that docket, while a felony does not become a District Court criminal case until indictment. Choosing a portal only by the place of arrest can therefore miss the court that ultimately owns the file.
The County Clerk source accompanies the misdemeanor-record image.
The County Clerk keeps the filed record, while the County Court at Law judge's office manages the court calendar and proceedings.
The official County Court at Law page is the source for this court image.
Together, the clerk and court sources show why record requests and scheduling questions go to different Austin County offices.
Criminal Case Stages in Austin County
The court record starts after law enforcement and charging steps begin. An arrested person is brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, ordinarily within 48 hours under the Texas rule described in the research. A misdemeanor may proceed by information. A felony moves to a grand jury, which may return an indictment or a no-bill.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
Discovery and motions fill the pretrial phase. A plea or trial then leads to judgment and, when applicable, sentence. An appeal creates further events. The docket is the best timeline, but an entry is often only a short label. Open the related order or obtain it from the clerk before drawing a conclusion.
Read Austin County Case Outcomes
Disposition means the final court outcome. A dismissal ends the charge without a conviction, but it does not by itself remove the police or booking record. A no-bill means the grand jury declined to indict. An acquittal is a not-guilty result returned by the factfinder. Deferred adjudication withholds a finding of guilt during supervision, yet it can appear in the DPS public conviction-name product unless a nondisclosure order applies.
- Indictment
- A grand jury's felony charging instrument.
- Information
- A prosecutor's charging instrument, commonly used for a misdemeanor.
- Docket
- The court's dated list of case events.
- Disposition
- The filed case's final result.
- Nondisclosure
- An order limiting public dissemination while preserving authorized access.
Read the exact Austin County judgment or dismissal order instead of treating a short status label as the whole result. For the earlier custody event, the separate Austin County Arrest Search explains booking and agency records.
Austin County Fine-Only Cases
Austin County has four justice courts, and their files do not merge into one District Clerk search merely because they are county courts. JP1 is at the Justice Center in Bellville, JP2 is in Industry, JP3 is in Sealy, and JP4 is in Wallis. Each office has its own phone and precinct docket.
The county justice-court directory is the source for the Austin County courts image.
The directory helps route a citation to the precise office rather than to the felony or misdemeanor clerk by default.
Access Rules for Case Records
Texas court records are generally accessible under court rules and judicial access policy, subject to sealing, redaction, and clerk custody. The Texas Judicial Branch rules and standards frame access to filed material. Online display may be narrower than the courthouse file, so a missing document link does not establish that no document exists.
Juvenile files, protected victim or minor information, personal identifiers, sealed matters, expunged cases, and other confidential material can be withheld or redacted. The Texas Public Information Act applies to existing governmental records, but an office need not answer questions or create a new report. Court-file access should still begin with the clerk that maintains the filing.
If an Austin County case is absent online, confirm the court level, try a date or case number, use the public terminal, and then request a clerk search. That sequence accounts for spelling variants, older files, and clerk-dependent electronic coverage without assuming that an empty result proves there was no case.