How to Search Washtenaw County Criminal Dockets
Figure out the likely court first. Then try MiCOURT Case Search. Ann Arbor cases tend to land in the 15th Judicial District Court. Ypsilanti Township matters usually go to 14B, and other district cases to a 14A location. A felony may open in district court and then move to the Washtenaw County Trial Court or 22nd Circuit Court. Picking the wrong court matters as much as typing the wrong name.
Got the full case number? Use it. With only a name, check the party role, court, filing date, case type, and status before trusting any match. Two people can share a name. Treat the online result as informational, and ask the court of record how to get a copy of a public document or a certified record.
- Choose the correct Washtenaw court in MiCOURT or begin at the county's online resources page.
- Search the last-name or business field, adding first or middle name only as needed.
- Use year, number, and type when a case number is available.
- Confirm the court, case type, and party role before reading a case history.
- Contact the court that holds the file for a document, certification, or a result that needs verification.
Washtenaw County Criminal Court Split
There is no single Washtenaw County criminal docket. Misdemeanors, ordinance crimes, traffic-related criminal matters, and felony probable-cause proceedings stay in district court. The 22nd Circuit Court takes felonies after bindover, along with circuit-level sentencing and post-judgment work. For the wider Trial Court structure, see the county court-divisions page.
City of Ann Arbor cases go to the 15th Judicial District Court. That covers misdemeanor, ordinance, traffic, and felony preliminary work. Four 14A locations handle much of the rest of the county. 14B serves Ypsilanti Township. So an early district entry or a district calendar may belong to a case. Its felony history can live at circuit level.
When the court is unclear, start with the county court map. It stops a failed countywide search from looking like a complete result.
The official division overview lays out the functions that share the county system. These include civil, criminal, family, probate, and specialty work.
That structure is why the right court must be picked before a Washtenaw criminal docket is read.
What a Washtenaw Criminal Docket Shows
A public criminal case history is a chronological index. It names the court, the case number, and the case type, then lists filings, settings, and entries like an arraignment, motion, order, plea, disposition, or sentence. Not every attachment appears in it. And an entry saying a motion was filed says nothing about whether the motion was granted.
| Case number | The court-assigned identifier, often searched through separate year, number, and type fields such as 2026-000123-FY. |
|---|---|
| Charge or case type | The classification that helps identify the court and the stage of a criminal matter. |
| Case history | Dates and labels for filings, appearances, hearings, orders, and other actions. |
| Setting | A date, time, courtroom or location, judge, and event type. A setting can move. |
| Status | A system label such as open, closed, or disposed. It is not a plain-language conclusion about guilt. |
| Disposition | An entry such as dismissal, plea, judgment, or sentence. The underlying order controls. |
An appeal reference changes nothing at the trial level. The appellate file will not be complete in the trial-court display. Michigan Court of Appeals and Supreme Court systems sit apart from the originating docket.
MiCOURT Limits on Washtenaw Criminal Searches
MiCOURT is a public access path, not a full criminal-history database. The state page calls its data informational and tells users to contact the court directly. Bulk downloads are prohibited. So are excessive automated requests, and older convictions run through a seven-year criminal-sentence display condition. A missing result does not prove a court event never happened.
The portal excludes or limits whole categories. Juvenile proceedings, personal protection matters, mental-health cases, and adoptions are among them. If a result is nonpublic, do not chase it. Cached pages, repeated queries, and a different name spelling will not help. The court can explain the authorized access route.
MiCOURT's public case-search notice carries its current display limitations and use restrictions.
Michigan's conviction set-aside law matters here too. It gives another reason an online absence can never establish a complete history.
The official Michigan search material documents its court selector. It also lists the filters that shape what a public query returns.
The public interface helps you find a case. The court still controls the official record and any restricted material.
Stages on a Washtenaw County Criminal Docket
Entries follow the case; they do not tell the whole story in one line. A typical path runs filing, arraignment, pretrial work, a plea or trial, disposition, and sentencing. A felony adds a wrinkle. A probable-cause conference or preliminary examination can happen there first. That step comes before any bindover to circuit court.
Docket flow: Filing › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing.
Arraignment covers rights and plea choices, as the 15th District Traffic/Criminal division explains. A not-guilty or standing-mute plea points toward later pretrial work. A guilty or no-contest matter may be sentenced right away or set for a presentence interview.
Reading Washtenaw Criminal Docket Entries
Some criminal labels invite overreading. An appearance records attendance or representation, never the final result. A probable-cause proceeding asks only one thing. It asks whether a felony case may continue. That is not a trial verdict. "Disposed" or "closed" has a narrow meaning. The system marked the case inactive in that posture. It does not mean every factual question was resolved the same way.
- Arraignment
- A proceeding where the court may address the charge, rights, plea, bond, and next date.
- Bindover
- A felony-stage transfer from district court to circuit court after the required process.
- Motion
- A request for a ruling. Filing a motion does not show its outcome.
- Continued or adjourned
- A setting moved or held over. Look for a later entry and confirm the new date.
- Disposition
- A case-status result that must be read with the actual order or judgment.
Michigan's public-search material warns against reading a charge-level abbreviation without the court record. That caution matters most for attempt, conspiracy, and solicitation descriptions.
Which Courts Hold Washtenaw Criminal Dockets
Wherever the action happened, that court keeps the docket. In Washtenaw County, district dockets carry much of this. A 14A, 14B, or 15th District Court docket can hold misdemeanors, traffic-criminal cases, and preliminary felony events. Once a felony is bound over, the Circuit Court record takes over. Probate and family files sit inside the Trial Court system. That alone does not make them public criminal records.
Ann Arbor city cases run through the 15th District Court. Its 15th case-search page lists the search limits and local case-type codes. For other venues, start with county links or MiCOURT. Is the case number or division unclear? A clerk can point you to the right counter.
Official Washtenaw Criminal Case Records
A docket search result is not the document itself. If you need an order, judgment, transcript, or certified copy, use the court's records process. Name the court, the case number if you have it, the document or event, and the rough date. Washtenaw routes requests through its court-records service. Plain copies cost $2 per page. Certified and exemplified copies run $10 plus $1 per page, under the framework set by MCL 600.2546. These fees promise neither full public access nor instant turnaround. Media or transcript requests may follow different rules. Send the final request to the court that owns the file. Court Services cannot replace the records counter at a 15th, 14A, 14B, or Probate court.
The state rule and its fee schedule draw a clear line. A public criminal docket is not the same as unrestricted access to every document.
Public Access and Sealed Criminal Dockets
MCR 8.119 treats trial-court records as public by default. A statute, court rule, administrative order, or specific order can restrict access, and the rule also allows redaction. So a public case history does not make every attachment public.
Michigan access rules. MCR 8.119 governs court-record inspection and copying. MCL 15.232 excludes the judiciary and circuit-court clerk from the usual FOIA definition. MCL 712A.28 places special limits on juvenile records.
A sealed, redacted, suppressed, or nonpublic case belongs to the authorized court process alone. A missing calendar entry means nothing. Nor does a blank search or a thin docket entry. None of it licenses any guess about the protected material.
Absent Washtenaw Criminal Docket Results
When a criminal matter fails to appear, check the basics first. Confirm the court, the name spelling, and the case year. The matter may be older, nonpublic, juvenile, set aside, or filed at a different court level, so a no-result screen is never a conclusion in itself; the case could simply sit in the wrong public collection or fall outside the portal's display rules.
For a current court date, use the correct calendar and verify it with the court. For a historical document or certified record, contact the clerk that holds the case. The Washtenaw County case search page walks through the name and number fields the official statewide search uses.