Criminal Cases in Conway County Courts
Conway County criminal court records are not held by one generic courthouse counter. Circuit Court and the Circuit Clerk handle felony and circuit-level criminal files, along with juvenile and other circuit matters. District Court handles misdemeanor and traffic adjudication for Conway County and the City of Morrilton, schedules appearances, issues warrants, collects and distributes funds, and records local judicial dispositions.
The court split is the first fact to confirm before requesting a case file. A felony charge identified through a court search normally points to the Circuit Clerk. A city or county misdemeanor, traffic matter, local warrant, or district disposition may point to District Court instead. The sheriff can be part of the same case history when a warrant is served or a person is booked, but the sheriff is not the custodian of the court case file.
Circuit Clerk Criminal Files
The Conway County Circuit Clerk is Darlene Massingill, listed by the county and Arkansas Judiciary in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. The office address is 115 S. Moose St., Morrilton, AR 72110, phone (501) 354-9617, fax (501) 354-9612, and email dmassingill@conwaycounty.org. The county description says the clerk works with civil, domestic relations, criminal, and juvenile courts and prepares dockets, summons, warrants, orders, judgments, and injunctions authorized by the court.
Call this office when the Search ARCourts result is a felony or circuit criminal file, when the online view does not show the document needed, or when a certified court copy is required. The research did not locate a posted Conway County copy-fee or certification-fee schedule, so fee and payment questions should be asked directly before ordering.
The official county source is the Conway County Circuit Clerk page.
That office is the local file custodian when the case belongs in circuit court rather than a sheriff or state repository database.
How to Search Conway County Case Records
Search ARCourts is the online public case-search route for Conway County court records where the participating court and public-access rules make information available. The portal supports participant searches and other contexts such as case number, citation number, organization, or case description. It can show charges, filings, dispositions, judgments, future events, and linked documents when public.
- Open Search ARCourts and choose the search context that matches what is known.
- Search by participant name, or use the case number if a citation, clerk, or prior document provides it.
- Use advanced filters to narrow by Conway County, court, year, or case type when those options appear.
- Open the docket and compare court, filing date, charge, event, disposition, and judgment details.
- Call Circuit Clerk or District Court for certified copies, older records, full documents, or unclear online results.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search by | Dropdown | Yes | Participant, case number, citation, organization, or case description context. |
| First / Middle / Last Name | Text | No | Participant search; legal names and spelling variants improve matching. |
| Case Number | Text | No | Best for exact docket retrieval when the number is known. |
| Citation Number | Text | No | Useful for traffic and citation-linked matters. |
| Advanced Filters | Control | No | Use filters to narrow common names to the right court or case type. |
The Arkansas Judiciary explains the system on its Search ARCourts overview page.
The portal is a strong first pass, but the clerk remains the source for official file questions and certified documents.
District Court Misdemeanor Records
Conway County District Court is listed at 117 S. Moose St., Room 304, Morrilton, AR 72110, phone (501) 354-9615, fax (501) 354-9633. The county page names Judge Brian Mueller and District Court Clerk Sandra Holman. Its stated role includes misdemeanor and traffic adjudication for both the City of Morrilton and Conway County, along with warrants, appearances, funds, dispositions, and small or civil claims.
That makes District Court important for records that may not look like a felony case. A traffic-linked criminal matter, misdemeanor warrant, or city/county local disposition can route here even when the broader search phrase is Conway County criminal court cases. For a filed district matter, ask the counter about the case number, disposition, warrant status, copy access, and whether the record appears online.
The official source is the Conway County District Court page.
District Court is often the practical route for local misdemeanor records even when a statewide portal is searched first.
What the Case File Shows
A court case file is the record of what happened after a charge was filed. It is different from a jail booking record and different from an ARCH criminal-history result. Public case screens may show case number, court, caption or participants, judge, filing dates, charges, dispositions, judgments, future events, and docket entries. Some documents may be linked, while non-public information is blocked under court access rules.
| Case Number and Court | The file identifier and whether the matter sits in Circuit Court or District Court. |
|---|---|
| Charging Document | Complaint, information, citation, or other filing that states the alleged offense. |
| Docket Entries | Filed papers, hearings, orders, notices, warrants, returns, and other case activity. |
| Hearing Dates | Past and future court dates when public and entered in the case system. |
| Disposition and Judgment | Conviction, dismissal, plea, nolle prosequi, acquittal, or other outcome. |
| Sentence and Conditions | Jail, prison, probation, fines, costs, restitution, or other terms when public. |
Administrative Order 19 Limits
Search ARCourts does not mean every court detail is public online. Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order 19 governs access to court records and shields non-public information. Sealed records, juvenile matters, protected identifiers, victim-sensitive data, and material covered by a court order may be absent or redacted. A missing online result can mean the wrong spelling was used, the court does not provide that tier of data, the record is older, or the record is restricted.
When a case should exist but does not appear, the next step is not to assume it was erased. Call the specific clerk and ask whether the case is in Circuit Court or District Court, whether the file is public, and whether copies are available at the counter.
Stages of a Conway County Criminal Case
A case record usually begins after law enforcement records an arrest or citation and the prosecutor or court filing process creates a charge. The sheriff or city police report documents the front end, the jail creates the booking record if custody occurs, and the court file tracks what happens next. Felony cases generally belong at the circuit level; misdemeanors and traffic matters may stay in District Court.
Case flow: Arrest or citation › booking if jailed › charging document › arraignment or first appearance › motions and hearings › disposition › judgment or sentence › state repository update where reportable.
Prosecutor and Defender Context
The Fifteenth Judicial District prosecutor is part of the charging pipeline, but the prosecutor is not the public case-file counter. The county page lists Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum and describes criminal prosecution, hot check programs, victim/witness coordination, the 15th Judicial District Drug Task Force, and the Drug Coalition. The same research notes a public defender contact in Morrilton for the defense side of the local court system.
Use these offices as context for why a booking can become a filed case, why charges can change, and why a disposition may lag behind the arrest. For copies, docket entries, warrants, or certified judgments, return to Circuit Clerk or District Court.
The official county listing is the Conway County Prosecuting Attorney page.
The charging office helps explain the case path, while the clerks preserve the public court record.
Certified Copies Are Clerk Questions
A screenshot, public portal view, or name-based ARCH result is not the same as a certified court copy. Certified copies come from the court clerk that holds the file. For Conway County criminal court cases, ask the Circuit Clerk about felony and circuit criminal files and ask District Court about misdemeanor, traffic, local warrant, and district disposition records.
No official Conway County criminal-copy fee schedule was located in the inspected sources. Before relying on a copy request, ask the clerk for the current copy fee, certification fee, payment method, pickup or mail options, and whether the record is public.
The Arkansas Judiciary directory also lists Darlene Massingill as Conway County Circuit Clerk.
Use the directory listing to confirm the court contact before sending a copy request.
Case Record Access and Restrictions
Arkansas court records are not all public in the same way. Adult criminal dockets and many case fields can be open, but juvenile records, sealed cases, protected personal identifiers, victim-sensitive data, and records restricted by court order are withheld or redacted. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act helps with public records generally, while court-record access is also shaped by Administrative Order 19 and the court that holds the file.
Sealing is the Arkansas record-clearing term to watch. A sealed Conway County case may not appear in public court views or ARCH public results, even though law enforcement and courts may retain access where law allows. If a known case does not appear, ask the clerk whether it is public, sealed, older, misindexed, or held by a different court.
Federal Cases Use PACER
Federal criminal cases are outside Conway County clerk files and outside Search ARCourts. Conway County falls in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, Eastern Division. Use PACER for official federal dockets, the Western District court site for federal courthouse information, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator for federal custody. A state arrest, state case, or county jail booking does not prove a federal case exists.
The official federal docket portal is PACER.
Keep state and federal searches separate so a missing result in one system is not mistaken for a final answer.