Criminal Court Cases in Kings County
Kings County criminal court cases do not all remain in one building or keep one number. Kings County Criminal Court at 120 Schermerhorn Street handles arraignments, misdemeanors, violations, summons matters, Desk Appearance Tickets, and felony complaints before indictment. Its general information line is 347-404-9400. Clerk and DAT hours are listed as Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except holidays. Arraignments other than DATs run daily on a broader schedule.
Felony indictments move to Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, at 320 Jay Street. That split matters. A felony complaint may start at Schermerhorn, while later pleadings, motions, trial events, and disposition sit in the Supreme Court file at Jay Street. The Kings County District Attorney is nearby, but a prosecutor file is not a substitute for the public court case file.
Two Kings County Criminal Courts
The practical dividing line is indictment. Before a grand jury returns an indictment, New York City Criminal Court conducts the first proceedings on a felony complaint. Misdemeanor and violation cases generally stay there. Once an indictment is filed, Supreme Court becomes the trial court for that felony prosecution. This is a state-court structure even though both courts serve Kings County.
| Kings County court | Main criminal work | Useful identifier |
|---|---|---|
| NYC Criminal Court | Arraignments, misdemeanors, violations, DATs, summonses, preliminary felony work | Kings docket, often shown with a KN county context |
| Supreme Court, Criminal Term | Felony indictments, motions, pleas, trials, dispositions, and sentences | Indictment number |
A visitor seeking a physical file should call first, bring government photo identification, and provide every known number and date. Courthouse rules, device policies, and access conditions may change. Court staff can also explain whether a public document can be inspected, copied, or certified.
Kings County Case Record Searches
New York eCourts WebCriminal is the free discovery channel for criminal cases with future appearances in participating courts. It is not a full rap sheet and does not promise a scanned copy of every pleading. Use the spelling shown on court papers when possible. A docket or indictment number is stronger than a broad name search.
- Open WebCriminal and choose a defendant, case-identifier, or court-calendar search.
- Enter the official case spelling or the complete docket or indictment number.
- Select Kings County and the correct Criminal Court or Supreme Court when those controls appear.
- Record the court, case number, status, part, charge, and next appearance shown in the result.
- Call the proper clerk for an older file, available copies, a correction, or a certified disposition.
| Field label | Type | Required | Format or use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search type | Tab or radio | Yes | Defendant, Case Identifier, or Court Calendar |
| Last and first name | Text | Search dependent | Use the spelling in the Kings County court record |
| County and court | Dropdown | Optional filter | Choose Kings and the court that holds the case |
| Docket or indictment | Text | Alternative | Keep punctuation and formatting from the notice |
| Part and calendar date | Dropdown or date | Calendar search | Used for a scheduled appearance list |
Search Kings County Cases in WebCriminal
WebCriminal emphasizes pending matters and future appearances. A result can show the defendant display name, court, docket or indictment number, case status, top charge, attorney, judge, part, appearance history, and next date. Yet a blank search is not proof that no Kings County criminal case exists. Concluded cases can fall outside the interface's main coverage, and sealed matters do not appear.
For broader public court-record coverage, the OCA Criminal History Record Search uses an exact name and date-of-birth match. The published fee is $95 for each search. It reports matching public open, pending, and conviction records, while excluding sealed cases. Because it is name based, it is not the same as a fingerprint-matched DCJS Personal Record Review. A no-result CHRS response means only that the exact query found no reportable OCA match.
Note: Local court staff enter WebCriminal data, so corrections belong with the court rather than eCourts technical support.
What a Criminal Case File Contains
The Kings County case file follows the prosecution, not just the arrest. It can show how initial allegations changed, which motions were filed, what happened at each appearance, and how each count ended. The public online view may be narrower than the papers available from the clerk.
| Case number and court | The Criminal Court docket or Supreme Court indictment and the court holding the file. |
|---|---|
| Accusatory instrument | The complaint, information, prosecutor's information, or indictment that states the filed counts. |
| Docket events | Arraignment, counsel appearances, motions, hearings, adjournments, plea or trial, and sentence entries. |
| Charges | Statute, description, degree, class, count status, and the top charge at that stage. |
| Disposition | The result for each count, such as conviction, dismissal, or acquittal, with the disposition date. |
| Sentence | Jail, prison, probation, conditional discharge, fine, or other terms reflected by the court. |
Current jail location and a live bail balance belong in the NYC Department of Correction custody system, not the court file. For that part of the trail, use the county's arrest search routes.
Kings County Dockets Become Indictments
A common Kings County case search error is to keep using only the original Criminal Court docket after the case has moved. Grand-jury action can produce a new Supreme Court indictment number. The earlier docket still helps explain the path, but the later number is the key to the Kings County felony trial file. Search both courts when the charge began as a felony complaint and the online result stops without a clear final outcome.
Bring the defendant's court-record spelling, known date of birth when authorized or requested, arrest date, docket, indictment, part, and appearance date to the clerk. The court can retrieve an older or concluded file that WebCriminal does not surface. If the displayed data is wrong, ask the court that entered it to make the correction. DCJS and the prosecutor do not edit the court's WebCriminal entry.
Criminal Case Stages in Kings County
A Kings County criminal case begins with filed accusations and an arraignment. Pretrial work can include discovery, motion practice, hearings, negotiations, and repeated calendar dates. The case then ends by dismissal, plea, trial verdict, or another lawful disposition. Sentencing follows a conviction when it is not imposed at the plea.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
The arrest charge is not frozen through that flow. Prosecutors may decline, add, reduce, or replace counts, and a grand jury may indict different counts. Read the disposition for each filed count before describing any charge as a conviction.
Kings County Certificates of Disposition
A Certificate of Disposition is the concise, Kings County court-sealed record of the charge, conviction, conviction date, and sentence. Request it from the court that sentenced the case. The published New York City fee is $10. Bring photo identification and the docket or indictment number. An authorized agent may need notarized authority, especially for a sealed case.
The certificate is often the best proof when a final outcome is missing from another record. It can support a correction to one's DCJS rap sheet or document the case for a sealing request. Each case needs its own certificate. The clerk, not DCJS, issues this court record.
Kings County Criminal E-Filing
Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term became an early criminal NYSCEF e-filing court in September 2025. That milestone changes how participating cases may be filed and managed, but it does not turn every criminal paper into an open public download. WebCriminal remains a calendar and case-data tool, while the clerk remains the source for inspection and copy rules.
Specialty and alternative parts can also change the path shown on a docket. Brooklyn Treatment Court, veterans tracks, STEP, DTAP, and other alternative programs may produce appearances and dispositions that differ from a straight trial schedule. Read the actual case events and outcome rather than guessing from the court part's name.
Electronic filing also does not erase the difference between a docket entry and the document behind it. A public search result may state that a motion, order, or hearing occurred without offering the paper itself. Ask the Kings County Supreme Court clerk whether a particular item can be viewed or copied and which identifier the request must carry. For a case that began in Criminal Court, keep both the lower-court docket and the later indictment number. That pair helps staff trace the file across the move from Schermerhorn Street to Jay Street.
Access Rules for Case Records
Public court access does not override New York sealing law. Matters sealed under CPL 160.50, 160.55, 160.57, 160.58, or 160.59 stay outside ordinary public results. Youthful-offender records, juvenile matters, protected addresses, victim data, and some documents also face limits. The New York Freedom of Information Law governs executive agencies, but a request to NYPD or DCJS is not a back door into a sealed judicial file.
Ask the Kings County clerk what can be inspected and whether redacted public copies exist. A case absent from WebCriminal may simply be concluded, archived, entered under another identifier, or sealed. The statewide CHRS search can add public name-and-DOB coverage, while an individual may use fingerprint-based DCJS Personal Record Review to audit their own official New York record. Each channel answers a different question.