How to See If Someone Has Been Indicted or Has an Upcoming Court Date

Indictments and court dates are matters of public record. To formally charge someone with a felony, or indict that person, a grand jury must return a true bill. Indictments are filed with the district clerk for the county where the offense occurred. Court dates are usually posted on a court docket, which is a list of cases before the court. A court coordinator administers the docket. Some counties post their dockets and new indictments online. Local newspapers in smaller communities also report new indictments.

Find the county where the offense occurred. Call the district clerk’s office or court’s office for that county and ask for the next court date for the defendant. If the case has not been presented to a grand jury, the clerk may be able to tell you when the next setting is. If you are the defendant, send a letter to the clerk and the court requesting notice of future court dates.

Call the district clerk’s office and ask if an indictment has been returned. Ask when the grand jury meets. Sets of indictments are made public usually a day or two after a grand jury meets. Check every week if necessary. Even if an indictment has not been returned, it does not mean court proceedings have paused. The court can still have matters to handle with the defendant, including pretrial issues such as a bond revocation hearing.