Butler County Criminal Court Records
The Butler County Clerk of Courts is the custodian of records for the Criminal and Juvenile Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas. Tammy Thibodeau is listed as Clerk of Courts. The office maintains criminal actions, juvenile actions, summary appeal actions, and miscellaneous criminal-related filings. Major criminal cases are handled in the Court of Common Pleas, while Magisterial District Courts handle first-level proceedings such as preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, bail, warrants, and summary matters.
A criminal court record begins once charges become part of a court case. It can include the charging history, docket entries, plea events, motions, hearing notices, disposition, sentence, financial balances, and orders. For the charge-focused arrest-to-court path, use the Butler County arrest records and court charges page. For the full case file, sentence, and final court outcome, stay with criminal court records.
The official criminal filing-office source is the Butler County Clerk of Courts page: Butler County Clerk of Courts.
Search Butler County Criminal Records
Public criminal docket sheets are searched through UJS Case Search. The portal supports participant name, organization name, case number, offense tracking number, police incident or complaint number, and State ID number searches. UJS docket sheets may show charges, offense dates, grading, disposition, sentence or order entries, hearings, docket events, and financial balances. Documents are not the same as a full clerk file.
- Open UJS Case Search and choose the Common Pleas or Magisterial District Court docket area that fits the criminal matter.
- Search by defendant name, docket number, offense tracking number, police incident number, complaint number, or State ID number.
- Confirm that the result is a Butler County case by checking court, docket number, caption, and filing date.
- Read the charge list, docket entries, plea or trial events, disposition, sentence, and financial entries.
- Request certified copies or full filings from the Butler County Clerk of Courts when a docket sheet is not enough.
Butler County's criminal record checks page directs personal users to UJS and directs official criminal background checks to PATCH. That distinction matters because a court docket search is not the same as an official statewide criminal-history check.
The Clerk of Courts filing page identifies criminal and juvenile filing categories for Butler County: Clerk of Courts filing information.
Butler County Criminal Case Flow
Criminal court records grow as a case moves through each stage. The early stages often begin in a Magisterial District Court, where warrants, preliminary arraignments, bail, and preliminary hearings are handled. Cases that proceed to Common Pleas are tracked by the Clerk of Courts, where pleas, motions, hearings, dispositions, and sentencing become part of the case record.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial and Motions › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing.
| Stage | How It Appears in the Record |
|---|---|
| Charges Filed | Offense descriptions, statute citations, offense tracking numbers, grading, and filing events appear on the docket. |
| Arraignment | The formal stage where the defendant is advised of charges and a plea process begins. |
| Pretrial and Motions | Motions, orders, continuances, hearing notices, and other events appear in date order. |
| Plea or Trial | The docket may show plea events, trial activity, verdicts, or dismissal of specific charges. |
| Disposition | The outcome of each charge or the case, such as guilty, dismissed, withdrawn, or not guilty. |
| Sentencing | Sentence entries, probation, incarceration terms, costs, fines, restitution, or other orders where public. |
Butler County Criminal Record Fields
A Butler County criminal court record can contain many fields, but the most important parts are the docket number, defendant, charges, status, disposition, and sentence. The record should be read charge by charge. One case can include several counts, and each count may have a different status or outcome.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Docket Number | The Common Pleas or Magisterial District Court number used to identify the criminal case. |
| Defendant | The person charged, with public identifiers limited by access policy. |
| Charges | Offense descriptions, statute sections, offense dates, grading, and offense tracking data where public. |
| Plea | The defendant's formal response or plea event in the case. |
| Disposition | The final or current outcome of each charge, such as guilty, dismissed, withdrawn, or not guilty. |
| Sentence | The penalty ordered by the court, including probation, incarceration, fines, costs, restitution, or other terms. |
| Financial Entries | Costs, fines, restitution, bail, balances, and payments when shown on the public docket. |
Butler County directs personal criminal case lookups to UJS and official checks to PATCH on its criminal record checks page: Butler County criminal record checks.
Charges Convictions and Limits
A charge is an accusation filed in court. A conviction is a guilty finding or guilty plea. Butler County criminal court records may show charges that were amended, reduced, dismissed, withdrawn, or resolved by a plea to a different count. Reading only the original charge list can give the wrong impression of the final outcome.
| Point | Charge | Conviction |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | An offense alleged in the court case. | A guilty finding or plea accepted by the court. |
| Where It Appears | Charge table, complaint, information, docket events, or summary case entry. | Disposition and sentence entries. |
| Risk of Misread | May be pending, dismissed, reduced, or withdrawn. | Should be matched to sentence and final disposition. |
Sealed and expunged records also differ. Expungement under 18 Pa.C.S. 9122 can remove eligible criminal history record information. Clean Slate limited access under 18 Pa.C.S. 9122.2 restricts dissemination for qualifying records without always destroying all records.
| Point | Sealed or Limited Access | Expunged |
|---|---|---|
| Public Access | Restricted from general public view under court order or Clean Slate rules. | Removed or destroyed from eligible record systems as ordered by law. |
| Agency Access | May remain available to criminal justice agencies. | Depends on the expungement order and statutory exceptions. |
| Authority | Court order, access policy, or 18 Pa.C.S. 9122.2. | 18 Pa.C.S. 9122 and applicable court orders. |
Pennsylvania's expungement statute is a required source for restricted criminal court record analysis: 18 Pa.C.S. 9122.
Clean Slate limited access is separate from expungement and is documented in Pennsylvania law: 18 Pa.C.S. 9122.2.
Access to Butler County Criminal Records
Public access to Butler County criminal court records comes from the UJS docket system and the criminal filing office. The UJS public records policies govern access to Pennsylvania case records, while Butler County routes criminal case information to the Clerk of Courts. The Prothonotary is not the criminal filing office.
Juvenile records are restricted. 42 Pa.C.S. 6308 limits disclosure of juvenile law-enforcement records except in defined circumstances. Butler County juvenile material held by the Clerk of Courts should not be treated as ordinary public criminal case data.
PATCH and UJS serve different needs. UJS is the public docket source for court case events, charges, dispositions, and sentence entries. PATCH is the Pennsylvania criminal-history check channel for official background-check purposes. Butler County's criminal record checks page points users to both paths, which helps prevent a docket sheet from being mistaken for a complete statewide criminal-history report.
Certified copies and record corrections also stay with the court source. A UJS docket can help identify the docket number and disposition, but the Clerk of Courts is the office to contact for the criminal case file in Butler County. If the docket involves a Magisterial District Court proceeding, the MDJ office may hold the first-level record or payment context. Criminal investigation records are separate from court case records and route through the District Attorney's open-records process.
Pennsylvania juvenile-record confidentiality is documented in the statutory source assigned to this page: 42 Pa.C.S. 6308.
Criminal Case Offices
Criminal court records often require more than a portal search. The District Attorney is the prosecutor for criminal cases. The Public Defender represents qualifying indigent defendants and requires a new application for each new criminal case. The Clerk of Courts keeps the criminal case file. Each office has a different role, so record requests and legal-service questions should be routed carefully.
The Clerk of Courts address and hours are useful for certified-copy and case-file requests: Government Judicial Center, 124 West Diamond Street, Butler, PA 16001, with mailing to P.O. Box 1208, Butler, PA 16003. The research lists office hours as Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Criminal actions, juvenile actions, summary appeals, bail-bondsman matters, constable filings, election matters, coroner reports, and older road papers are among the categories associated with the office.
Butler County Clerk of Courts
Government Judicial Center
124 West Diamond Street, Butler, PA 16001
724-284-5233
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Butler County District Attorney
124 W Diamond Street, Third Floor
Butler, PA 16001
724-284-5222
Criminal prosecution and DA open-records routing for investigation records.
Butler County Public Defender
124 W Diamond Street, Floor LL
Butler, PA 16003
724-284-5335
Appointments required for qualifying criminal-defense applications.