Washington County Criminal Court Cases
Washington County is Pennsylvania's 27th Judicial District. Most local prosecutions start before a Magisterial District Court. A judge handles the preliminary arraignment, bail, and the preliminary hearing. Felony and misdemeanor charges that are held for court then move to the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County. The District Attorney files the information, and the Common Pleas docket records formal arraignment, pretrial work, plea or trial, disposition, and sentence.
The Clerk of Courts is the custodian for Common Pleas criminal matters, motions, and petitions. Clerk Ray Phillips serves at Washington County Courthouse, 1 South Main Street, Suite 1005, Washington, PA 15301. The office line is 724-228-6787, and general court information is available at 724-228-6999. A matter disposed of at the MDJ level stays with that district court instead. Picking the court first avoids asking the Common Pleas clerk for a file it does not hold.
The Washington County Clerk of Courts page identifies the local criminal-file custodian. Its view of the office also helps readers distinguish the filed case record from the police report that came before it.
That distinction matters when a docket lists an event but the reader needs the underlying motion, order, or certified copy.
Read Washington County CP-63 Dockets
A Common Pleas criminal number follows the form CP-63-CR-[sequence]-[year]. The number 63 identifies Washington County. An MDJ criminal number begins MJ-[district]-CR, which signals that the file belongs to a lower court. These prefixes are more than filing shorthand. They reveal which custodian should have the paper file and whether a prosecution crossed from preliminary proceedings into Common Pleas.
- OTN
- The Offense Tracking Number links arrest, fingerprint, charge, and court processing.
- Information
- The formal charging document filed by the District Attorney after charges are held for court.
- Nolle prosequi
- A prosecutor's decision not to continue a charge, commonly shown as a count-level disposition.
- Disposition
- The result of a charge, such as dismissal, guilty plea, acquittal, or diversion.
Police incident numbers and lower-court numbers may appear as cross-references. They help match related files, but one number should not be treated as proof that every agency record is public.
Searching Washington County Case Records
The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania Web Portal Case Search is the free public starting point. It covers Washington County Common Pleas criminal cases and MDJ criminal, traffic, and non-traffic matters. Search results can lag behind a recent filing, so use an exact docket or OTN when one is known and confirm the filing date and court type before relying on a name match.
- Open Case Search and choose the court case mode rather than a calendar search.
- Select Common Pleas or Magisterial District Court, then choose Washington County where the form offers a county field.
- Search by docket, participant name, OTN, organization, or police incident number. Add available details to narrow common names.
- Open the docket sheet and compare charges, filing date, status, events, disposition, and sentence.
- Ask the Clerk of Courts or the correct MDJ for filed papers, certification, or material not downloadable from UJS.
| Field label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Type | Tabs or dropdown | Yes | Docket, participant, organization, OTN, police incident, or calendar |
| Court Type | Dropdown | Yes | Choose Common Pleas or Magisterial District Court for local criminal records |
| County | Dropdown | Conditional | Select Washington |
| Docket Number | Segmented entry | Conditional | Use the exact court-format components |
| Participant Name | Text | Conditional | Last name is central; first and middle names can narrow results |
| OTN or Incident Number | Text | Conditional | Use the exact agency or offense-tracking identifier |
| Date Filed or Status | Date or dropdown | No | Availability depends on the selected search mode |
The Pennsylvania court-case information page explains the reach of this official search.
It also warns that a court search is not the Pennsylvania State Police criminal-history product.
Washington County UJS Download Limits
UJS supplies a docket sheet, not a digital copy of every filed paper. The sheet can show general case facts, hearing dates, financial entries, counsel, counts, outcomes, and the filing list. A motion or order named in that list may still require a request to the Washington County Clerk of Courts. This is a common point of confusion: seeing a filing title does not mean the full filing can be opened online.
The UJS search interface shows the public entry point used for Washington County case records.
Use the resulting docket as an index, then request the exact filed item by title, date, docket number, and count when possible.
Cases older than 2000 may need advance retrieval from Washington County Archives. Call the Clerk before visiting. A case that ended at the MDJ level should be requested from that MDJ, while an appeal creates a separate appellate docket and cross-reference.
Note: Recent docket activity may not appear at once, so a same-day search should be checked again or confirmed with the custodian.
Inside a Washington County Case File
A Washington County criminal file records what the Commonwealth formally alleged and how the court resolved each count. It may contain a complaint, bail action, hearing entry, information, motions, orders, plea forms, verdict, sentencing order, post-sentence filing, and appeal notice. The public docket describes much of that trail, but protected identifiers and confidential filings do not appear in an ordinary remote view.
| Case Number and Court | Identifies the court level, Washington County code, sequence, year, filing date, and status. |
|---|---|
| Participants | Lists the defendant with limited identifiers, the Commonwealth, counsel, and representation status. |
| Charges | Shows each count, statute, grade, offense date, and count-level disposition. |
| Docket Entries | Tracks complaints, bail, hearings, arraignment, motions, orders, pleas, trial, and appeals. |
| Calendar and Bail | May show event date, courtroom, judge, status, bail type, and amount. |
| Disposition and Sentence | Records the outcome, confinement or probation, credit, costs, fines, and restitution where public. |
| Cross-References | May include OTN, MDJ number, police incident number, or related appellate docket. |
An arrest-level accusation can differ from the final offense. Read the count-by-count disposition rather than assuming the first charge stayed unchanged.
Washington County Transcript Rate Ladder
Washington County's official transcript or copy form asks for the caption, docket, judge, courtroom, dates, reporter, requested portion, delivery speed, and output format. It separates an original transcript from a requester copy and allows requests for an entire proceeding or a defined part, such as one witness, jury instructions, or a pretrial hearing.
| Delivery | Original per page | Requester-copy addition |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary | $2.75 | $0.50 |
| Expedited | $3.75 | $0.75 |
| Daily | $4.75 | $1.00 |
| Same day | $6.75 | $1.25 |
Hard copy adds $0.25 per page. Daily and same-day work depends on local availability, and advance approval at least seven days ahead is required for the latter. The official request form controls the current request details.
How a Criminal Case Moves
Police begin most Washington County prosecutions by filing a complaint before an MDJ. Preliminary arraignment gives notice of the charge and addresses bail. At the preliminary hearing, the Commonwealth must meet the threshold needed to hold a charge for court. The District Attorney then files an information in Common Pleas, followed by formal arraignment and pretrial work.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
A Washington County case may end by dismissal, nolle prosequi, ARD, a negotiated guilty or nolo plea, acquittal, or a jury or nonjury conviction. Sentencing can include confinement, probation, costs, fines, restitution, and conditions. Later review appears through post-sentence entries or a separate appellate docket.
Washington County Diversion Docket Outcomes
Not every Washington County case follows the trial-to-conviction path. The District Attorney describes ARD for selected first-time DUI and non-DUI matters, Fast Track for relatively minor or nonviolent cases moving from the MDJ stage before the trial list, and Probation Without Verdict for an eligible drug-dependent person in a qualifying nonviolent drug case. Each route depends on its own legal standards, recommendation, and court discretion.
The Washington County District Attorney page identifies these local programs and office contacts.
A docket may therefore show diversion, supervision, dismissal, or another nontrial result. That result should be read by count and in sequence with later entries.
The Public Defender accepts applications from eligible people facing covered Washington County matters, including felonies, misdemeanors, and incarceration-risk summaries. A complete application, income proof, and case papers should reach the office at least seven business days before the hearing.
The Washington County Public Defender page provides the application channel.
That office is at 95 West Beau Street, Suite 500, Washington, with telephone 724-228-6818 and fax 724-250-6516.
Washington County Criminal Court Forms
The Washington County Criminal Division publishes a notably local set of forms. Available materials include subpoenas, continuance applications, probation and parole conditions, guilty plea colloquies, waiver of formal arraignment, jury and nonjury trial materials, Rule 600 waivers, and SORNA notices. Spanish-language forms address bench warrants, interpreters, continuances, pleas, and trial rights.
These forms help explain docket labels. A waiver entry may point to a signed court form, while a continuance entry marks a request to move an event rather than a case outcome. The docket is still the index. Ask the clerk whether the filed version is public and available when the form itself is needed.
Case Record Access & Restrictions
Pennsylvania court files are subject to the Unified Judicial System Case Records Public Access Policy, not simply the county's administrative Right-to-Know route. Washington County dockets omit sealed, expunged, pending-expungement, limited-access, destroyed, juvenile, and other secure matters from ordinary public search. Full birth dates, Social Security numbers, victim identifiers, and confidential filings are also restricted or redacted.
Access boundary: 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 91 governs criminal-history information, while UJS policy controls public access to judicial case records. The Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law does not override a seal, statute, court order, or judicial access rule.
When a known Washington County matter does not appear, check the spelling, docket format, court level, and filing date. Then contact the Clerk or relevant MDJ. Do not assume that a blank result proves the case never existed. For a broader view of how court outcomes fit other local records, use the Washington County criminal-history overview.