And no, I don’t mean the latest “Backstreet Boys” and “Britney Spears” albums, although god knows they should have been charged with a crime for making them.
I’m talking about criminal records of common everyday folks. I believe that once you’re convicted of a crime, that record becomes public information. Does this mean that any old yokel can view these records? How do I go about getting this information? Are there any resources online that will help me locate a specific person? What kind of information about the individual do I need? Or, as I suspect, is this criminal information “public” insofar as certain agencies/organizations/individuals with a valid reason can have access to it, but the standard citizen can not? Any info would be appreciated.
The standard citizen has every right to view public records.
A criminal conviction is a matter of public record.
So far as I’m aware, run-of-the-mill trial court conviction records are not available anywhere on the Internet. You must do what you fathers did, and their fathers before them: hie yourself down to the local courthosue and make inquiries.
The police and various investigative agencies database and search engines available to them, but this would not be an option available for no cost.
Many states have appellete opinions on the Web at no cost. Unfortunately, these only go back a few years, and are not helpful if the person involved did not appeal, or if their appeal decision was unpublished.
Finally, as to sex offenders, a few states have decided to publish their registry of sex offenders on the Internet. So if you wish to determine if the nice man next door is a lurking pedophile, you may avail yourself of that resource.
Here in King County (Seattle), Washington, you can go to the courthouse armed with nothing more than a person’s name and review all the proceedings, past and present, that he/she is involved in:
Go to the Records Division (6th Floor)
Wait for a computer terminal to become available.
Select which type of court you want records from.
Type in the person’s name. A list of cases pops up.
Select the particular case(s) you want the records from.
Hit the return key. A records request is generated for the clerk(s).
Wait patiently near the clerk’s desk. (Usually only a few minutes.)
Recieve the requested records.
Peruse the records, make notes, copy them, etc. (You can’t take them out of the viewing area.)
Return the records to the clerk.
It’s all pretty straightforward and surprisingly user-friendly. Most of the people I saw there were attorneys but a few were interested laymen like myself.
“I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, until I realized who was telling me that.”
Emo Phillips
What are the implications, then for someone approaching jury duty? Should they not look up the records of criminals in the news? Would they be unable to perform their duties at a trial of someone who they happened to have prior knowledge of the defendants convictions?
Thanks Bricker and pluto. I was afriad that I wasn’t gonna’ be able to find anything on the net. The person I’m interested in committed his crimes in W.D.C. and Baltimore. I am, unfortunatly, in San Francisco. Not that big of a deal, I guess. I just really wanted to know the low down on this slimy lawyer that I work with (he’s got a long string of major ethics and fraud violations, I believe). But not bad enough to fly back East to get it.
When I served on a jury (it’s happened twice so far), we were told specifically not to perform any investigations on our own, and that doing so would get us thrown off of the jury.
When on panels from which jurors were being selected, one of the questions we were asked was whether we knew or had heard of any of the parties in the trial. Those who had were taken aside and asked for details - I assume that anyone who had prior knowledge of a defendant’s earlier convictions would have been excused from that particular jury.
There are several agencies on the net that will run a search like you want for a fee. You can search using real estate records and voter registration for free.
Wait! If it’s a lawyer, start with the state bars to which he belongs. Any sanctions applied to him for ethics violations (other than a private reprimand) are a matter of record with the bar. Both DC and Maryland Bar Associations should be able to answer that.
Andriod209 asks:
As was correctly answered earlier – absolutely not. How is an accused’s prior criminal history relevant to his current crime? If you discover that the accused arsonist was previously convicted of rape, you might make the impermissible inference that just because he’s a awful man, he’s probably guilty of arson. That’s unfair to him, and it’s also unfair to society as a whole, because it means that whoever really committed the crime is going to get away with it.
If it’s relevant, you’ll be told. If it’s not, as a juror, you don’t need to know about it.
I have no idea if it is appropriate to link to a commercial site or not(If it isn’t appropriate, please remove the link), but I ran across this site in an ad while looking up a phone number and it might be of some thing to look into.
I don’t know anything about it other than the info listed on their site. You seem to have to pay for the software and you get some kind of subscription to access public records databases. They mention access to criminal records, so it might help.
I would imagine an hour or so worth of a D.C./Baltimore P.I.'s time would be a lot cheaper (and easier) than flying east and back. Any P.I. is probably familiar with the local process and might have an additional trick or two to add.
Thanks guys. I thought of the P.I. option, as well as hiring a local DC or Baltimore legal clerk to look it up for me. Too much money, not enough intrest on my part. But I didn’t think about going the BAR Association route. That’s something I can do through work for free. And I’m sure that his actions got him more than just private reprimands. I know that there are at least a few criminal convictions involved (possibly felony convictions). He had a hell of a time getting his California BAR membership because of his past, and almost wasn’t offered a partnership becuase of it. Sheesh, they’ll let anybody be a partner in a law firm these days.