Dear Fellow Citizen:

To enhance your understanding of the criminal records you have selected to review, please take a few minutes to review the following information.

It is my intention that you have access to your public records. In reviewing pending criminal cases, however, it is important to keep in mind that under our system of justice a person accused of a crime is presumed innocent unless and until he is found guilty. As a matter of law, pending criminal cases are open public records, however, no one should assume or infer that anyone whose case is pending is guilty of the offense (s) charged.

Although the circuit clerk’s office makes every reasonable effort to verify the accuracy of its records, human error can occur. Therefore, if an error is detected, please report it to the office at (314) 622-3728.

The records you are about to review are clerical summaries of activity in each individual case. The clerical staff often have to reduce to a few words long and complicated Orders of the court, and at times do not completely capture every nuance of the Order. The actual documents, court orders, party motions and memorandums are available in the actual file, and open to public view in person on the Second Floor of the Carnahan Courthouse, located at 1114 Market Street between the hours of 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday, excluding all holidays.

There are primarily two types of crimes recognized in the law, a felony and a misdemeanor. A felony is a crime for which the possible sentence of incarceration (jail time) or probation can exceed one year. A misdemeanor is a crime for which the possible sentence of incarceration or probation cannot exceed one year.

The state courts for the City of St. Louis are organized under a plan in which cases are assigned to the trial court by the “assignment” court (division). Generally, only circuit level divisions hear felony cases. The assignment division for felony cases is Division 16. This year the circuit criminal trial courts are Divisions 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 23. There are two associate circuit divisions that generally hear only misdemeanor cases, divisions 24 and 26. Another associate circuit division, Division 25 does arraignments for all felony cases.

An arraignment is the initial hearing in a criminal case where the defendant is read the charge(s) against him and is asked to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. In some cases Division 25 carries a case on its docket (lists of cases assigned to a particular court) awaiting action by the Grand Jury. In the remaining cases Division 25 conducts a “preliminary” hearings to hear evidence to determine whether there is enough evidence to establish that the police had “probable cause” to make the arrest, and or if there exists sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial. Following arraignment depending on the nature of the alleged crime the case is transferred to Division 16, the trial assignment division, or initially assigned to trial division, which may keep the case awaiting the possibility that a plea agreement be reached between the Circuit Attorney’s office and the defendant. If no plea agreement is reached in weeks, the case is transferred to Division 16.

Division 16 usually keeps all felony cases on its dockets. Cases are continued on a docket rolling over to the next court date for that docket until the case is ready for trial. Many cases are completed by a defendant entering a guilty plea. These cases are set on a “plea” docket and ordinarily are not continued from the date the defendants are scheduled to plea.

In such cases, the judge usually enters a decision from the bench at the end of the hearing. The judge has three choices after making a “finding of guilt”: (1) sentence the defendant to a term of incarceration to be served; (2) sentence the defendant to a term of incarceration and then suspend the execution of the sentence, placing the defendant on a term of probation, this is referred to as an SES; or (3) place the defendant on probation for a term of time, and suspend the imposition of a sentence, which is referred to as an SIS. Usually the defendant is ordered to pay court costs and/or restitution as a term of probation, and is ordered to participate in some form of rehabilitation

Under Missouri law, a defendant is not “convicted” of a crime if no sentence of incarceration is imposed by the court (SIS cases). By Missouri law, records of closed criminal cases where the defendant was not “convicted” are not public records and generally cannot be disclosed, except in limited circumstances as set out by law. As such, once an SIS case is completed (closed) by the defendant successfully finishing probation, the court record no longer remains a public record, because the defendant was never “convicted” of the crime to which he plead guilty. SES cases are always a matter of public record because the court imposed a sentence of incarceration, thus the defendant has been “convicted” of the crime to which he has plead guilty.

Sometimes defendants on probation are accused of violating the terms of their probation. In such cases, the court will have a “probation revocation hearing,” in which the judge who placed the defendant on probation will hear evidence to determine if the defendant has violated the terms of probation. In SIS cases, if the judge finds that the defendant violated probation, the judge can: revoke probation and impose a sentence and suspend it (converting the case to an SES) or impose and execute a sentence of incarceration (send the defendant to jail); extend the term of probation; suspend probation while determining what further action to take; or make no changes to the case. In SES cases, if the judge finds that the defendant violated probation, the judge can: revoke probation and execute the sentence of incarceration (send the defendant to jail); extend the term of probation; suspend probation while determining what further action to take; or make no change to the case.

Misdemeanor cases are generally heard in associate circuit level courts. Division 26 usually processes all associate cases, handling all arraignments, hearings, including accepting guilty pleas and sentencing, and trials conducted without a jury. Division 26 completes most of the misdemeanor cases. When a jury trial has been requested the case is usually transferred to Division 24.

As in felony cases, defendants in misdemeanor cases who are not acquitted can be sent to jail, or placed on probation with an SES or SIS. Generally, defendants on probation for misdemeanors are not assigned a probation officer. Like felony defendants the judge who placed the defendant on probation would conduct any probation revocation hearing that may be scheduled for that defendant. In such circumstances the associate circuit judge would have the same options as the circuit judge overseeing a felony defendant on probation, as set out above.

Under Missouri law court records of cases where the defendant was acquitted, found not guilty, are “confidential”, not public records. Likewise, records of cases where a charge or charges were dismissed are also confidential.