A helpful feature on Judici for a defendant is the fines-and-fees feature. This feature allows a defendant to see how much money he still owes on a case. (After pulling up a case on Judici, the “Fines & Fees” link appears towards the top of the page. Click that link.) The most important information on the fines-and-fees page is the total line. That line shows the total due, the total paid, and the balance owed. There is a bunch of other information on this page, but most of it is not likely to be important to a defendant. (This other information shows how the court costs break down.) One line, besides the total line, that a defendant might want to pay attention to is the line for probation fees, which vary from case to case. Probation fees are in addition to the fine and court costs a defendant must pay. In many cases, there are no probation fees and this line will not be present.
Archive for the 'Court Records' Category
On Judici, you can find clerk docket entries by clicking the “history” link after you have pulled up a case. The history section can be a bit mysterious if you don’t understand the jargon and acronyms used. In this post, you will become familiar with some of the more common acronyms and words used in criminal cases on Judici, but, by no means is this an exhaustive discussion of terms that you might encounter.
In this segment, I have posted a clerk docket entry (modified from a real misdemeanor case) and provided commentary on it. Please note that I have added numbers inside brackets (for example, [1]) in the below material — my commentary follows and corresponds with the inserted numbers.
| 02/06/2008 [1] | ASA [2] Jones present. Deft [3] present with Atty Darrow [4]. Deft enters vol. GP [5] to both counts [6]. Pursuant to plea, Deft sentenced to 2 years probation, $1,250 F&C [7], $60.52 Restitution [8], undergo an alcohol/ drug eval within 30 days and comply with rec. treatment [9], 90 days in CCS&DC stayed pending compliance [10], and not be present at any Walmart Store. Factual basis established [11]. Judgment entered. Judgment of Restitution entered and on file. Deft ordered to report to probation upon leaving the courtroom. |
| 01/09/2008 | ASA Jones present. Deft present with Atty Darrow and provided a copy of the Information [12]. Deft waives formal reading, enters plea of NG, and requests JT [13]. Status set Feb. 6, 2008 at 10 am. DOTA [14]. |
| 12/07/2007 | Entry of Appearance filed. Motion For Discovery filed. [15] |
| 12/05/2007 | Information filed. (2 Counts) |
- This docket entry is in reverse chronological order. In other words, the newer material appears at the top of the page and the older at the bottom.
- Assistant State’s Attorney. An assistant state’s attorney is a criminal prosecutor who works for the elected state’s attorney.
- Defendant
- In this case, attorney Darrow is the defendant’s attorney.
- The defendant is entering a voluntary guilty plea. Instead of going through a trial and a sentencing hearing, the defendant decided to admit guilt. He will receive the sentence he negotiated for.
- In this case, two counts (or two different ways the defendant violated the criminal law) were filed against the defendant.
- Fine and court costs
- Restitution is money paid to a victim to cover the victim’s losses resulting from the crime.
- This defendant is required to visit an alcohol and drug counselor, obtain an evaluation, and complete any treatment recommended by the counselor.
- This defendant received a 90-day jail sentence, however, he will not have to serve it if he stays in continual compliance with his probation. The jail time is stayed (suspended) for the time being. If the judge receives a bad report from this defendant’s probation officer, the judge can order the defendant to serve some of (or the entire) 90-day jail sentence.
- The State gave a brief factual summary of the actions of the defendant and the judge agreed that those facts support the charges filed against the defendant.
- The Information is a document the State files with the court. It contains the charge or charges against the defendant. This document is one way that a criminal case can get started in the court system.
- At this point in time, the defendant pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. This is very common at this stage in a criminal case.
- The defendant was ordered to appear in court on February 6, 2008 at 10 a.m.
- These are documents filed by a defense attorney. The first lets the court and the state’s attorney know that the defendant is represented by counsel. The second seeks information possessed by the State about the defendant’s case.
In my last post, I wrote about Judici. Now that you know that it exists, you may want to help in understanding it.
This post will focus on the case numbers found on Judici. As far as criminal and traffic case numbers are concerned, your primary focus needs to be on the following letters: CF. CM, TR, DT, CV, and OV.
CF
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the criminal-felony division. For example, “2008CF999″ would be a typical felony case number on Judici. The “2008″ part of the number tells you that the case was filed in the year 2008. The “999″ tells you that this particular case was 999th felony case filed in the year 2008.
Felonies carry the most severe criminal penalties. They are the crimes that can land a person in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
CM
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the criminal-misdemeanor division. Misdemeanors are generally less serious than felonies. A misdemeanor conviction can result in a person serving time in the county jail, however, that person cannot be sent to the Illinois Department of Corrections as a result of a misdemeanor conviction.
TR
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed in the traffic division. Traffic offenses can be petty (fine only) offenses or misdemeanors.
DT
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed as a DUI — the defendant was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
CV
If a case number contains these letters, then the case filed was filed as a conservation violation. When you read the word “conservation,” think things like fishing licenses, wildlife, and game wardens. These cases are often petty offenses, but not always.
OV
If a case number contains these letters, then the case was filed as either a city or county ordinance violation. These cases often times could have been filed as state charges, but the police chose to have them prosecuted in ordinance court rather than state court. A good example is underage-drinking charges. All underage-drinking charges can be filed in state court, but, a large number of them end up being filed as city-ordinance violations rather than state misdemeanors.
Did you know that many Illinois counties have case information online? If you have been charged with a crime, then you can go to the appropriate website and search for your case. Once you find it, you can find out things like your next court date and the status of your case.
Many counties make their case information available through Judici. Below you will find a listing of some of the counties on Judici. Click on the name of the county to be taken to that county’s case-search page.
- Clark County
- Coles County
- Crawford County
- Edgar County
- Effingham County
- Moultrie County
- Shelby County
- Vermilion County
Other counties, have case information online, however, that information is not located on Judici. Some of these counties are listed below.
Some counties currently don’t have any case information online. Some of these counties are listed below.
- Cumberland County
- Douglas County
- Jasper County
