How to Search Criminal Dockets
Start with the Somervell County Court page, which directs criminal index searches to the Tyler Odyssey system. The linked Texas UCMS Public Access Portal offers Smart Search for case records and Search Hearings for court settings. A name, record number, approximate filing date, and likely court will narrow the results. County misdemeanor cases and district felony cases have different custodians, so a blank result may mean the search began in the wrong court.
Somervell County also documents offline routes. Call or visit the District Clerk for District Court files, or contact the County Clerk for County Court misdemeanor files. A written request can go by mail, and the published clerk contacts also permit phone confirmation. For Class C matters, use the Justice of the Peace or Glen Rose Municipal Court. These routes matter when an older record has not been scanned, an image is absent, or a public screen does not show the current setting.
- Choose Smart Search for a name or record number. Choose Search Hearings when the court date is the main fact needed.
- Enter the name as last, first, middle, and suffix, or enter the exact cause number. Narrow by location, case type, status, date, or judicial officer when those fields are available.
- Match the court, record number, and filing details before opening a result. Do not treat a similar name as proof of identity.
- Read events in date order. Check the charge, settings, motions, plea, disposition, sentence, and any later appeal entry.
- Ask the custodial clerk for the docket sheet or a certified judgment when the screen is incomplete or an official copy is required.
Somervell Criminal Docket Filters
Tyler Smart Search has a broad set of filters for Somervell County criminal docket research. The basic screen accepts a record number or a party name. Advanced fields may narrow by location, case type, case status, file-date range, and judicial officer. The form also separates cases, judgments, and warrants. Party filters include name, nickname, business name, sounds-like, phone, FBI number, sheriff's-office number, and booking number. Not every field will fit every search.
A hearing search is a separate task. Search Hearings adds location, hearing type, search type, judicial officer, courtroom, and a date range. The portal's dynamic option lists were not available in the research capture, so the live form controls which Somervell County choices appear. Sessions require JavaScript and cookies and can expire after a short period of inactivity.
The official Smart Search form shows the source screen used for the Somervell County criminal docket filters.
The screen helps explain why a record-number search is often cleaner than a broad name search, especially when the same name appears in more than one record.
What a Criminal Docket Shows
A Somervell County criminal docket may show the case number, court or location, case category, filed date, caption, and status. Its event list can record settings, motions, plea activity, orders, and the outcome. A hearing record may add the type, date, time, courtroom, and judicial officer when those values are populated. Fees, costs, fines, bond data, or a balance may sit in a payment layer rather than the public event list. Each field should be read as an index entry unless the signed filing is also available.
| Case Number | County Court criminal reports use YY-213-CCCR-NNNNN. District Court numbering must be confirmed in the live record. |
|---|---|
| Charge | The offense, degree, or class may appear in case details even when the short index shows only a broad category. |
| Hearing Settings | Arraignment, pretrial, motion, trial, or sentencing dates may appear, with detail depending on the source. |
| Plea | The register may record guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere activity. OCA uses a combined guilty-plea or nolo category. |
| Disposition | A conviction, dismissal, deferred adjudication, acquittal, or other result may be listed, but the signed judgment controls. |
Somervell County's monthly OCA report also uses Style, Case Number, Activity Date, and Activity Type. Those statistical fields are useful for context, but the report is not a full docket sheet and private case styles should not be copied into a general reference.
Somervell Criminal Docket Routes
The most important local distinction is county criminal versus district criminal. The County Clerk maintains misdemeanor criminal matters in County Court. The Somervell County District Clerk maintains permanent criminal records for the District Courts, which handle felony matters. A Justice of the Peace keeps Class C citation records, while the City of Glen Rose maintains its own municipal ordinance and traffic docket.
| Matter | Record Keeper | Best First Route |
|---|---|---|
| Felony or District Court criminal case | Somervell County District Clerk | Tyler UCMS, then District Clerk |
| County misdemeanor | Somervell County Clerk | Tyler Odyssey criminal index, then County Clerk |
| County Class C citation | Justice of the Peace clerk | JP records channel or clerk |
| Glen Rose ordinance or city citation | Glen Rose Municipal Court | Municipal clerk |
A case with a CCCR segment belongs to the County Court criminal category in the OCA report. Do not apply that format to a District Court cause number. If a Somervell County criminal docket search finds nothing, checking the other custodian is more useful than merely trying the same query again.
Stages on a Criminal Docket
The Somervell County criminal docket begins when a complaint, information, or indictment is filed. An initial appearance or arraignment addresses the charge and plea. Bond, counsel, and later settings may follow. Pretrial entries can record status checks, discovery issues, motions, and readiness. A docket call does not mean the trial has occurred, and a reset is not a dismissal.
Docket flow: Filing › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
After a plea or trial, the event register may state a disposition and sentence. The signed judgment is the document that establishes the legal result. Post-judgment entries may address payment, capias, bond forfeiture, or appeal. An appeal may later gain a Tenth Court of Appeals cause number, while the path for a death-penalty appeal differs under Texas law.
Missing Somervell Criminal Images
A visible case index with no image does not mean the criminal file is empty. Somervell County criminal document access is more limited than the civil document layer, and older material may be in paper, microfilm, an archive, or a part of the electronic system that is not public. A sealed or protected document can also be withheld while limited docket facts remain visible.
Write down the cause number, court, filing date, and exact document needed. Contact the District Clerk at 254-898-3971 for District Court records, or the County Clerk at 254-897-4427 for County Court misdemeanor files. The District Clerk is at 101 NE Barnard Street, Glen Rose, accepts written requests at P.O. Box 1309, and publishes an email and fax contact. County Clerk mail goes to P.O. Box 1098, and its office computers can search public indices and images. Ask whether the item is public, digitized, available at the counter, or eligible for a plain or certified copy.
Somervell County also publishes a general open-records channel, but a court record may need to go straight to the proper clerk under the judicial-record rules. A request should describe an existing record, not ask the office to create a new report.
Which Court Holds Criminal Dockets
Somervell County District Court criminal proceedings involve the 18th and 249th District Courts. Their courtrooms are listed at the Guinn Justice Center in Cleburne, while the District Clerk's public records contact is in Glen Rose. The 18th District Court is reached at 817-556-6820 and the 249th at 817-556-6825. Confirm the hearing site before travel because the clerk's records address and the regional courtroom address are not the same place.
County Court misdemeanor matters route to the County Clerk and County Court coordinator at 254-897-2322. The JP number is 254-897-2120, and Glen Rose Municipal Court is 254-897-2272. These lower dockets should not be confused with a county misdemeanor or district felony docket. The court name on the notice or record number is the safest routing clue.
Somervell Criminal Docket Settings
Somervell County uses two useful public date views. Tyler Search Hearings is built to find a setting by hearing criteria and date. The county's District Court calendar has also displayed the local label “249th Criminal Docket.” It supports list, week, and month views, as well as date and phrase searches. The calendar is a second check, not a certified case record.
- Arraignment
- The stage when the charge is addressed and a plea is taken.
- Docket call
- A calendar check on status and readiness, not the trial itself.
- Reset
- A change to the operative setting. The old date may remain in the event history.
- Disposition
- The recorded outcome, such as a conviction, dismissal, acquittal, or deferred adjudication.
These are common Texas meanings, not a complete Somervell County code list. For the current time, courtroom, or judge, check the newest future event and call the clerk or court coordinator when a public entry omits a field.
Public Access and Sealed Criminal Dockets
Ordinary adult criminal docket entries may be open, but public access is not the same for every file. Juvenile matters, child-protection records, sealed documents, and protected data can be limited or omitted. A blank online result is not proof that no Somervell County criminal docket exists. It may point to the wrong clerk, an older unscanned file, or a lawful restriction.
Key Rules:
Texas Rule of Judicial Administration 12 generally opens judicial records to inspection and copying, subject to its scope and exceptions.
Texas Family Code Chapter 58 imposes confidentiality and sealing rules on juvenile records.
Texas judiciary open-records policy explains that court and judicial-agency records do not follow the Public Information Act in the same way as executive records.
Expunction and nondisclosure also follow formal legal processes. They are not simple requests to remove a search result. For an accessible item that must carry official proof, ask the custodial clerk for a certified copy rather than relying on a Tyler screen or OCA report.
Somervell Criminal Docket Activity
The official FY2024 district-court activity report gives context for the Somervell County criminal docket without replacing a case search. It covers the reporting year from September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2024. Criminal active pending began at 42, 29 cases were reactivated, 62 were added, 71 were disposed, 31 became inactive, and 29 remained active pending at year end. These are report measures across the district layer, not today's live docket count.
The January 2026 County Court criminal report is a different layer. It uses activity groups such as first-offense DWI, marijuana possession, driving while license suspended or invalid, other misdemeanor cases, and convictions by guilty plea or nolo contendere. Statistical categories help explain workload, but the Somervell County criminal docket and signed case documents remain the sources for one case's history.