How to Search Criminal Dockets
Start at Indiana MyCase, the state's official online portal. The Benton County Clerk of Circuit Court links the same service from its county page. You can pull up a Benton County court docket with a case number, a citation number, a cross reference, a party name, or attorney information. Narrow the docket search to Benton County and the criminal category. That keeps Benton Circuit Court cases separate from courts elsewhere in Indiana.
Got the full cause number? Use it. It is the best key there is. Without one, type the complete last name first. Then add a first name, a birth date, a filing range, or a case status. Be aware that MyCase may cap broad results and present a CAPTCHA. Its terms prohibit automated data mining.
- Open MyCase and choose the Case, Name, or Attorney tab.
- Select Benton County and the criminal category.
- Enter the full cause number or enough name detail to identify the case.
- Read the newest Chronological Case Summary entries for settings, orders, and disposition.
- For a missing record or current setting, call the Clerk at 765-884-0930 or Court at 765-884-0370.
The official MyCase search form displays those public controls.
The screen also explains why swapping a name for a cause number or a filing-date filter can sharpen a broad docket search.
Benton Criminal Docket Codes
Every Benton Circuit Court cause starts with 04C01. Under Indiana Administrative Rule 8, 04 stands for Benton County, C for Circuit Court, and 01 for the court itself. The next group gives the filing year and month. A case type follows, then a six-digit sequence.
Criminal types include MR for murder, F1 through F6 for current felony levels, CM for criminal misdemeanor, MC for miscellaneous criminal, PC for post-conviction relief, and RF for a red-flag firearm matter. Older FA through FD codes can remain. The teaching pattern 04C01-2401-F6-000001 is not a live case.
- F6
- A felony-level classification, not a verdict.
- CM
- A criminal misdemeanor filing.
- PC
- A post-conviction proceeding.
- CCS
- Indiana's ordered register of court events.
The Rule 8 display confirms the code.
Knowing 04C01 keeps a like-named case in another Indiana court from being mistaken for a Benton filing.
What a Criminal Docket Shows
A Benton County criminal court docket is a sequence, not a one-line outcome. The public case page can identify the court, cause number, type, filed date, status, public parties and counsel, charges, hearings, documents, orders, costs, and disposition. Some entries link to a public document. Others show only event text because the attachment is restricted or not remotely available.
| Cause number | 04C01 prefix, filing period, case type, and sequence. |
|---|---|
| Charge | Public offense description and level, which may later change. |
| CCS entry | A dated filing, hearing, order, motion, or judicial event. |
| Setting | Hearing type, date, time, place, and officer when public. |
| Disposition | The recorded result, read with the exact entry and order. |
| Financial data | Displayed costs or balance, which may not be current. |
The date beside a CCS line is its entry date. It may differ from the hearing date or the day an order was signed, so read the text and linked order together.
Benton Case Types Are Not Verdicts
An F6 label tells how a case was classified at filing. It does not mean the person was convicted at that level. The Benton County criminal docket may later record an amendment, dismissal, plea, diversion, trial result, or other disposition. Open and Closed are search filters too, not findings about guilt or payment.
Read the chronology in order. Start at filing, note each charge change, then find the signed order or disposition. A motion is only a request until the judge acts. A proposed order is not signed. A reset moves a setting; it does not dismiss the cause.
Money lines need the same care. MyCase warns that balances may be incomplete, especially with interest or collection activity. The Benton County Clerk holds the current ledger. So treat any displayed amount as a lead for confirmation, not a final payoff quote.
Quick check: Use the type to locate the docket, then use the newest CCS entries and signed orders to learn what happened.
Stages on a Criminal Docket
A Benton County criminal docket often opens with a filing, then an initial hearing and entries about counsel, bond, appearance, and any public no-contact order. Motions and discovery events may follow before a plea, bench trial, or jury trial. Continuances can move settings along the way.
Docket flow: Filing › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing.
Not every cause follows that route. A matter can end sooner, return for a later order, or continue into post-conviction work. Probation or diversion may create review entries under the same number, though treatment details need not be public. Sentencing can occur after a plea or finding, and later compliance or revocation entries can extend the chronology. Each charge may also have its own disposition, so do not stop at the first result line.
Indiana's CourtCal listed Benton but no participating Benton court at the cutoff. An empty calendar result does not cancel a setting. A summons, current order, or direct confirmation from Benton Circuit Court is the safer source.
Benton Criminal Appearance Information
Benton local rule TR04-AR-19 covers a bond schedule, automatic no-contact orders for certain offenses, and orders to appear. The state-hosted rule says the Clerk, Court, or Jail can provide the current schedule on request, and that it may change. For a specific appearance, a current notice, a CCS order, and direct confirmation control.
Call Benton Circuit Court at 765-884-0370 when a setting is close, unclear, or conflicts with an older entry. The Clerk can identify a public order or CCS line and give current financial information. No third-party calendar should replace either office.
Note: A bond schedule does not replace the date and terms in the court's current order.
Benton County Criminal Docket Court
One court handles the record work here. Benton Circuit Court is the only court of record listed for the county, and there is no Benton Superior Court, county court, city court, or town court in the official directories. Every felony, misdemeanor, miscellaneous criminal, and post-conviction cause carries the 04C01 prefix. The docket and the case documents sit with the Benton County Clerk of Circuit Court.
A few neighbors can confuse you. Prosecutor and probation files are not the criminal docket, and they follow their own rules. Jail rosters are not the CCS either. Federal cases belong to the Northern District of Indiana through PACER, and an appeal gets its own appellate cause number. A change of venue or a special-judge assignment can add entries that explain a new court name or hearing location while the same cause history runs on.
Through all of that, the Benton criminal docket stays the official record of what the trial court filed, set, ordered, and resolved. If two systems disagree, trust the newest CCS entry and order from the court where the case began.
Benton Criminal Filings in 2024
Indiana's official 2024 data lists new 04C01 filings as follows: 2 F3, 2 F4, 15 F5, 69 F6, 205 CM, 59 MC, and 1 PC case. Those are category totals only. No names, and no word on how any one case ended.
A few hundred filings a year is why court, type, date, and full-name filters matter, since only the individual CCS controls the outcome of one matter.
Public Access and Sealed Criminal Dockets
Indiana Rule 4 presumes public access, but Rule 5 carves out confidential records. Juvenile files, mental-health matters, and expungement material stay sealed. A docket line can stay open even when its attachment is closed.
The MyCase access matrix spells out the rules. It shows which Benton County criminal docket records you can view from home.
That is why a public case can show up while a single filing stays closed to an anonymous reader.
Missing Benton Criminal Docket Records
An empty MyCase result does not mean no Benton criminal docket exists. The name may be spelled differently. The file may predate full online coverage, the cause may be sealed, or you may have picked the wrong court. Try again with a full 04C01 number, a tight name, and a narrow filing range. If that fails, ask the Benton County Clerk of Circuit Court for a public CCS or a named filing.
When you ask, give the cause number, the case type, a document title or CCS date, the format you want, and whether you need a plain or certified copy. The Clerk's office is at 706 E. 5th Street, Suite 37, Fowler, Indiana 47944, open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It lists 765-884-0930, fax 765-884-0322, and clerk@bentoncounty.in.gov. Call before mailing anything, since the office publishes no general copy-order process or turnaround. The court-record rules index gathers the access rules in one place.
Going through that official route tells you whether an item is truly confidential or just missing online.