Searching Fayette County Criminal Dockets
Court level comes first in any Fayette County criminal docket search. Felony district cases sit with the District Clerk, while the County Clerk handles county-court misdemeanors. The four Justice of the Peace offices each keep their own Class C files. Municipal clerks keep city ordinance and Class C records. Be wary of Texas re:SearchTX. OCA material leaves criminal cases out of its statewide corpus. So it is not a full criminal answer for Fayette County.
Before you call a clerk, pull together the exact case or citation number. Bring the full name on the case, a rough filing date, and the issuing court. Hold back your birth date and driver-license number. Keep any sensitive document out of an ordinary message unless the clerk offers a secure route.
- Read the court name on the citation, notice, bond paper, or prior filing.
- Contact that court's clerk and provide the case or citation number first.
- For district matters, ask whether the public computer can show the public-open case.
- Read each setting and filing as an event, not as proof of a final result.
- Request a plain or certified copy from the clerk who maintains the file.
Fayette Criminal Docket Terminal
Home viewing is off the table, according to the Fayette County District Clerk. Public records are not online. Instead, the office runs a public computer portal during business hours that shows public-open cases only. That makes it the most concrete route to a Fayette County felony docket. Call 979-968-3548 before you drive over. Confirm the terminal is up and that the file you want can be inspected.
You will find the District Clerk in Room 102 of the Fayette County Courthouse. The address is 151 N Washington Street, La Grange. Hours run Monday through Friday. They are 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Put the court, case number, docket sheet or document wanted, and date range in any written request. Ask the office directly about copy and certification fees. Never assume County Clerk fees carry over to district records.
Inside a Fayette County Criminal Docket
Think of a docket as an event register rather than the whole file. A Fayette County criminal docket can tie a charge to filings, settings, pleas, and a final result, yet a blank local plea form proves nothing about what any person's case contains. The fields described here track the official justice workflow and the duties Fayette County clerks actually perform.
| Case or citation number | The court's main identifier; copy the exact number from a filed paper. |
|---|---|
| Charge or violation | The offense description and level help distinguish felony, misdemeanor, and Class C matters. |
| Filing events | Pleadings, motions, notices, orders, and other items accepted by the clerk. |
| Hearing setting | The date and type of arraignment, pretrial, trial, or other court event. |
| Plea and disposition | Separate entries for a plea and any dismissal, judgment, sentence, or other final action. |
Dates carry separate meanings. A filing date is not a hearing date. A hearing on the calendar is not a conviction or a dismissal. For a real outcome, confirm from the signed order or judgment held in the originating file.
Fayette Misdemeanor Docket Costs
Misdemeanor costs at the county level follow the County Clerk's fee schedule. It was updated July 17, 2026. It sets a $5 search charge per name and $1 per copy page. Certified copies run $1 per page plus $5 certification. Emailed or faxed copies are listed at $1 per page. A separate county e-filing FAQ prices emailed copies at $2 per page, though. The official documents disagree on that channel, so get a written quote before you pay.
You can start a request several ways: county.clerk@fayettetx.us, the county contact form, phone at 979-968-3251, mail to PO Box 59, La Grange, TX 78945, or a visit to 246 W Colorado Street. The form asks for a name, phone, email confirmation, comment, and reCAPTCHA. There is no fee field on it. Submitting the form settles no charge and does not prove a formal request was accepted.
How a Criminal Case Moves
Not every criminal case travels the same road, so read docket events in sequence. Felonies proceed in District Court. Misdemeanors belong to the Constitutional County Court and the County Clerk. Class C citations stay with the named JP or municipal court unless an authorized transfer or appeal moves the file somewhere else.
Docket flow: Charge Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial Settings › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
A docket entry saying a motion was filed does not mean the judge granted it. The same goes for electronic filing. Acceptance there means the clerk took the document into the workflow, not that a proposed order was ever signed. When the result matters, read the later entries and get the signed order.
Fayette Criminal Docket JP Paths
Fayette County has four justice precincts, and each one has its own contact route. JP1 sits in La Grange at 979-968-3648. JP2 is in Fayetteville at 979-378-2573. JP3 is in Flatonia at 361-865-3500. JP4 is in Schulenburg at 979-743-4041. The county's Orange Plea Form prints routing boxes for all four precincts. Use the box for the issuing precinct, not whichever office is closest to home.
The form captures a citation number, party information, your plea, and the path you request. Choices cover a driver safety course, deferred disposition, payment, or a judge or jury trial. Every one of those is a request, not an outcome. A mailed response must carry a postmark on or before the appearance date. A phone call by itself is not an appearance. For more citation detail, see the Fayette County traffic ticket page.
Note: A municipal citation and a JP citation near the same town can live in separate files.
Courts That Hold Criminal Dockets
Fayette County splits its criminal files between two clerks. Felony criminal records sit with Linda Svrcek's office as District Clerk, which also keeps district civil, family, juvenile, and CPS matters. Misdemeanor criminal records belong to Brenda Fietsam's office as County Clerk, alongside county civil and probate files. Class C cases are different. Justice and municipal clerks hold those files themselves.
| Matter | Custodian | Best documented route |
|---|---|---|
| Felony | District Clerk | Office terminal, phone, or written request |
| County misdemeanor | County Clerk | Email, form, phone, mail, or counter |
| Justice Class C | Issuing JP | Citation number and precinct contact |
| City Class C | Municipal clerk | City contact; La Grange also has a portal |
One warning from the court itself: the 155th District Court page states plainly that traffic tickets are not handled there. A city ticket or a JP ticket stays with the court that issued it, no matter how criminal it sounds.
Fayette Criminal Docket Caseload
State OCA totals for fiscal year 2025 cover September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025. They show how much moves through these courts. They also explain why court level and citation number matter in a Fayette County docket search. The county's justice courts opened the year with 12,770 criminal cases. They reactivated 928, added 6,503, disposed of 5,838, and left 1,787 inactive. They ended with 12,490. The Constitutional County Court started with 148 criminal cases, reactivated 136, added 298, disposed of 323, and left 121 inactive. It closed at 137. These figures track activity. They are not a name-search index.
Read the numbers as reported activity, not as a tally of records you can pull up online. Inactive does not mean dismissed, sealed, or expunged.
Sealed Dockets and Public Access
Most Fayette County criminal docket entries are public. Still, access has limits. Juvenile material, victim information, protected addresses, sensitive identifiers, sealed filings, expunged records, and records under nondisclosure orders may be withheld or redacted. The district terminal only shows public-open cases, so a blank result proves nothing about whether a record exists.
Key access rules:
OCA's open-records policy distinguishes case records from judicial administrative records and explains that Rule 12 is not the route for every case-file request.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 21c requires sensitive data to be omitted or redacted in filed documents.
Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A governs expunction and restricts access when an expunction order applies.
When in doubt, ask the clerk whether an item is public, sealed, restricted, or available in redacted form. The Texas Public Information Act does not turn every criminal case document into an unrestricted online record.
Fayette Criminal Docket Settings
For upcoming district settings, the 155th District Court schedule is the official source. Keep in mind it is a calendar, not a searchable criminal database. The Fayette schedule separates criminal, civil, ancillary, and CPS dates. It warns that settings can shift until docket call. So a listed date only proves the setting was published at that moment. Compare any setting against the case docket. Check with counsel or the coordinator if something conflicts. Schedule questions go to the court at 979-968-8500 or 155disct@co.fayette.tx.us. Certified records stay a clerk function. Confirm a disposition from the signed judgment or the clerk-maintained docket. Do not read meaning into a date that moved or vanished.