Kerr County Criminal Court Cases
Kerr County divides criminal case records by court jurisdiction. The 198th and 216th Judicial District Courts hear felony matters and share a public court number at 830-792-2290. Their files are held by the District Clerk. The Kerr County Court at Law handles Class A and Class B misdemeanors, with the County Clerk serving as custodian. Justice courts and the municipal courts in Kerrville and Ingram keep their own fine-only or city dockets. A Class C citation therefore should not be assumed to sit in the district index.
Case numbers offer an early routing clue. County Clerk material identifies misdemeanor causes with a CR prefix. District felony payment instructions use A or B prefixes. Those letters help select an office, but they do not disclose the result. Read the filed charge, docket, judgment, and sentence. The Kerr County public-records hub links the official judicial search and the right county offices.
Kerr County Felony Court Routes
The two district courts are separate courts with general felony jurisdiction, not two views of one docket. The official Texas trial-court directory places both at the Kerr County Courthouse, 700 Main Street, second floor. Their posted calendars use practical labels such as plea, arraignment and pretrial, jury trial, and contested dockets. A searcher should match the court number shown on the cause to its own setting list and orders.
The 198th District Court rules index shows why court-specific materials matter. The official index is pictured below. Rules and orders guide procedure, while the clerk's case file records what occurred in one prosecution.
Use the cause caption and court number together so a docket entry from one district is not attached to a case in the other.
Searching Kerr County Case Records
The county portal is the best discovery layer for district and County Court at Law cases. Names can locate a cause; a known case number is more exact. Online document coverage varies, and CAPTCHA can block access to the interface. Do not treat an empty result as proof that no case exists.
- Open the Kerr Judicial Civil and Criminal Records portal from the county hub and choose Case Records.
- Search by case number when known. Otherwise, use the party's legal name and review similar names with care.
- Narrow by filing dates, case type, or court when those controls appear.
- Open the docket and confirm the court, filed charge, settings, orders, and disposition.
- Ask the District Clerk for a felony file or the County Clerk for a misdemeanor file when an image is missing or certification is needed.
The official county search landing page shown below is a starting point, not the complete court file.
Its search controls support discovery, while the clerk remains the source for omitted, older, or certified documents.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case Number | Text | No | Best exact identifier |
| Party / Name | Text | No | Discovery by legal name |
| Date Filed range | Date fields | No | Narrows a broad result set |
| Case Type / Court | Filter | No | Focuses on the criminal court |
| Search / Clear | Buttons | Not applicable | Runs or resets criteria |
Note: A blank portal result may mean the wrong court, a CAPTCHA block, or a document that was never imaged.
Kerr County Court Copy Choices
When an online image is missing, request a specific item instead of asking for the whole file. The District Clerk's current copy form accepts the request date, requester contact details, case numbers, named documents, number of copies, certification choice, and delivery instructions. The published search fee is $5 when the cause number is unknown. Non-certified paper copies are $1 per page. Certified paper copies add a $5 certificate or seal fee, and non-certified electronic copies cost $1 per page through ten pages, then $0.10 for each added page.
The District Clerk may be reached at 830-792-2281. Its earlier official records-request form documents the clerk request channel, but the linked 2026 copy form above is the current source for copy fields. The County Clerk, at 830-792-2255, also publishes a $5 search fee when a misdemeanor case number is unknown. County notices checked August 8, 2026 placed both counters temporarily at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, but official pages conflicted between 3785 and 3685 TX-27. Call before travel.
District Clerk
Temporary Youth Event Center counter
Kerrville, TX 78028
830-792-2281
Felony case files and copies
County Clerk
Temporary Youth Event Center counter
Kerrville, TX 78028
830-792-2255
County Court at Law misdemeanor files
Note: Use the cause number when possible because both clerk offices publish a $5 search fee when it is unknown.
Inside a Kerr County Case File
A court case file records what prosecutors filed and what the court did. It may include the complaint, information or indictment, motions, settings, orders, plea, judgment, financial entries, sentence, and later activity. That is different from the sheriff's intake allegation. A booked charge can be rejected, amended, enhanced, dismissed, or no-billed before judgment.
| Case Number & Court | Identifies the cause, court, and proper clerk. |
|---|---|
| Charging Document | Shows the complaint, information, or indictment actually filed. |
| Docket Entries | Lists filings, settings, orders, and other court actions over time. |
| Hearing Dates | Shows scheduled and recorded arraignment, pretrial, plea, trial, or sentencing events. |
| Disposition & Judgment | States the outcome, such as dismissal, acquittal, deferred adjudication, or conviction. |
| Sentence & Conditions | Records confinement, fine, costs, restitution, or community supervision ordered by the court. |
Kerr County Criminal Docket Terms
Kerr County calendars use short labels that mark a stage, not a result. A plea docket may contain negotiated and open pleas. A contested docket signals a disputed motion or issue. The County Court at Law also posts bench trial, misdemeanor jail docket, jury selection, sentencing, and show-cause settings. A setting can move or be reset, so the later docket and signed order control.
- Arraignment
- The accused is informed of the formal charge and enters a plea.
- Pretrial
- The court addresses discovery, motions, scheduling, and readiness before trial.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a charge or case.
- No-bill
- A grand jury declines to approve an indictment.
- Deferred adjudication
- Community supervision while the court defers a final finding of guilt.
Note: A calendar entry reports a scheduled event; confirm the result in the signed order, judgment, or later docket entry.
How a Criminal Case Moves
After arrest and jail magistration, the prosecutor decides what to file. A misdemeanor may proceed by information, while a felony commonly proceeds through indictment. Arraignment states the formal accusation and plea. Discovery and motions follow. The matter may resolve by plea, trial, dismissal, or grand-jury action. Judgment and sentencing then document the result. Appeals and later motions can add more entries.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
The Kerr County Magistrate Court operates inside the jail and creates an early judicial record before much of the trial file develops.
Article 15.17 magistration covers warnings, probable cause, counsel, and bond. It is not itself a conviction. A person who seeks appointed counsel may ask at magistration or later in the trial court; eligibility and appointment are judicial decisions.
Kerr County Criminal Records Stay Local
re:SearchTX is Texas's statewide electronic court-record portal, and its official search reference explains the general filters. An official Judicial Council report says the portal's large document collection excludes criminal-case records. Kerr County criminal case research should therefore begin with the county judicial portal and the proper clerk, not a statewide criminal-document assumption.
This split also explains why a DPS public name result is not a substitute. Texas DPS publishes certain conviction and deferred-adjudication data reported to its Computerized Criminal History system. The local court file can show pleadings, settings, orders, and financial entries that the DPS product does not. For the full court outcome, stay with the Kerr County clerk record.
Note: re:SearchTX does not replace Kerr County's criminal portal or the District and County Clerk request channels.
Kerr County Case Counsel Requests
The Hill Country Regional Public Defender Office represents qualifying indigent defendants in member counties, but it is not the custodian of public criminal case files. Counsel can be requested at jail magistration or later through the trial court. The court determines eligibility and makes the appointment. Questions about the public docket or copies still go to the District Clerk or County Clerk.
The Hill Country Regional Public Defender source shown below helps identify the defense channel without blurring it with record access.
That distinction matters when a person needs representation rather than a copy of a Kerr County criminal court record.
Case Record Access & Restrictions
Texas court records are generally open subject to court rules, sealing orders, and confidentiality law. The Texas court-record access rules pictured below frame that access. They do not force a clerk to publish every document online.
The clerk can explain whether a releasable item exists and how to request it, while the court decides sealing and access disputes.
Juvenile material, grand-jury records, protected victim or minor details, personal identifiers, sealed filings, and expunged content may be withheld or omitted. An online gap can also reflect an older paper file, a document that was not imaged, a mismatched name, or the wrong court. Ask about the specific cause number before drawing a conclusion. Historical Kerr County clerk records dating from 1856 are also available on microfilm through the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, so genealogy research may require an archive route rather than the live portal. For the earlier custody trail, a contextual Kerr County arrest lookup may identify the booking agency, but the court file remains the authority for filed charges and disposition.
Federal charges from Kerr County are separate. The Western District of Texas is the federal trial court, and docket access runs through PACER, not either Kerr County clerk. Sealed federal documents remain unavailable through the public docket.