How to Search Criminal Dockets
For Cabell Circuit Court criminal cases, use WVPASS. That portal covers public Circuit Court records from July 1, 1999 forward. Registered users browse case information for free. Viewing or downloading public documents runs $0.25 per page plus a card-processing charge. Anything older, certified, or missing online belongs to Cabell County Circuit Clerk Michael J. Woelfel.
Cabell Magistrate Court handles misdemeanors, traffic matters, and felony preliminary proceedings. Those sit in the free MCRSearch portal. Accept the notice, then search by first and last name or case number. A local case number often looks like 24-M06M-00000. Exact spelling helps. The right court level helps too. A case number beats a broad county-only search every time.
- Decide whether the matter is in Circuit, Magistrate, or a city Municipal Court.
- Open WVPASS for Circuit Court or MCRSearch for Magistrate Court.
- Search the exact case number first, or use the party name and Cabell County.
- Compare the charge, court, status, and newest event before relying on a match.
- Ask the proper clerk for a missing document or certified copy.
Cabell Felonies Use WVPASS
Felony trials happen in Cabell County Circuit Court. That court is part of West Virginia's Sixth Judicial Circuit. Magistrate Court often handles the first appearance and preliminary hearing before that. When a matter is bound over or transferred, a separate Circuit case record may follow. One name can generate a Magistrate entry. A later Circuit entry may follow it too. Neither is a duplicate.
The West Virginia Judiciary record-access page keeps the two routes separate. WVPASS never replaces MCRSearch, and MCRSearch never returns filed Circuit documents. If the event history shows a transfer, check both court levels for the full picture.
What a Criminal Docket Shows
A Cabell Magistrate result gathers the basics: case information, parties, charges, an event schedule, and docket entries. It can name the court, case type, filing date, status, charge statute, judge, event time, and disposition. Treat it as an index and event history. It is not the complete evidentiary file. And it is not a certified copy either.
| Case Number | The local identifier, such as 24-M06M-00000, used for a precise lookup. |
|---|---|
| Charge(s) | The offense description, statutory citation, and available degree or count data. |
| Hearing Settings | Initial appearance, preliminary hearing, bench trial, or another scheduled event. |
| Plea | The recorded response to a charge, including guilty, not guilty, or no contest when applicable. |
| Disposition | The result shown for the case or charge, such as dismissal, conviction, or transfer. |
Cabell Criminal Filings by Court
One docket search is rarely enough. The 2025 West Virginia Judiciary annual report shows why. Cabell Circuit Court recorded 352 felony cases. It also logged 71 misdemeanor cases, seven Magistrate appeals, and 245 other criminal cases in the listed categories. Cabell Magistrate Court, separately, recorded 982 felony filings and 5,755 misdemeanor filings. Those Magistrate felony numbers reflect lower-court proceedings. They are not 982 separate Circuit felony trials.
Filings are just filings. They say nothing about guilt or unique people, and they come from finalized annual statistics. The Judiciary's interactive dashboard updates more often, but the Judiciary labels its figures preliminary.
Stages on a Criminal Docket
A Magistrate record may open with a complaint or citation. It can then move through initial appearance, bond action, preliminary hearing, plea, trial setting, or transfer. Circuit felony records usually begin with an indictment or information. From there they run through arraignment, motions, pretrial settings, plea or trial, sentencing, and post-judgment events. No case hits every stage. A reset only changes a setting. It never erases the case.
Docket flow: Charge Filed › Initial Appearance › Preliminary or Pretrial Events › Plea or Trial › Disposition
Cabell Charge and Event Terms
- Initial appearance
- The first advised appearance after a criminal charge reaches Magistrate Court.
- Preliminary hearing
- A Magistrate proceeding that tests whether a felony matter should continue toward Circuit Court.
- Docket entry
- A dated notation of a filing, order, payment, or other case action.
- Disposition
- The recorded outcome of a case or charge. It is not the same as a future setting.
- FTA
- Failure to appear after proper notice. It can trigger further court action.
Which Court Holds Criminal Dockets
Felony trials, major criminal matters, and appeals belong to Cabell Circuit Court. Its files live with the Circuit Clerk in Room 114 at 750 Fifth Avenue, Huntington. The phone is 304-526-8622. Misdemeanors, traffic cases, and preliminary felony work go to Cabell Magistrate Court. Magistrate Clerk Julie G. Callicoat keeps those files in Room B-113 at the same address. Her phone is 304-526-8642.
Same street address does not mean same database. City ordinance and city traffic cases are different. They may sit with Huntington, Barboursville, or Milton Municipal Court instead. Read the court name on the citation before picking a portal.
Cabell Treatment Court Entries
Cabell Adult Drug Court started in 2009. It operates within the related criminal case rather than as its own public background database. The Sixth Circuit also has a long juvenile treatment-court history. Public dockets may show participation, reviews, sanctions, and completion events. Juvenile details and protected treatment information stay withheld. The official Cabell Adult Drug Court contact page names the program and its local contacts. Not every substance-related charge lands in treatment court.
Public Access and Sealed Criminal Dockets
West Virginia generally lets the public inspect court papers. A statute, rule, or court order must say otherwise to close them. WVPASS excludes sealed and juvenile material. Sealing pulls a record out of ordinary public electronic and paper access. Limited access survives for authorized purposes, though. An empty search result, then, proves nothing about whether a case exists.
MCRSearch supplies case information only, so ask the Magistrate Clerk directly for public Magistrate documents. Circuit copies leaving the clerk's office cost $1 per page under the cited fee statute. Certification, transcripts, and other charges are separate. Name the exact record and the form you want when requesting a quote.
Key Rules:
West Virginia Code § 51-4-2 protects inspection and copying of court papers unless access is lawfully limited.
West Virginia Code § 53-8-17 defines sealing and the controlled routes for later access.
Trial Court Rules 10.03 and 10.04 address restricted records and public inspection procedures.
Cabell Clerk Copies and Transcripts
Finding a case online is not the same as holding the paper. MCRSearch will show a Magistrate case, its charge block, and its hearing schedule. The Magistrate Clerk keeps the actual public documents. WVPASS displays and sells public Circuit filings, but its downloads carry no certification. Anyone who needs a clerk-authenticated order, sentencing paper, or docket should contact the office. Give the exact case number and the document named. Magistrate records sit in Room B-113. Circuit records sit in Room 114. Since both offices share one courthouse, say which court level you need up front.
Transcripts take a different path entirely. The court reporter prepares them, not either search portal. West Virginia Code section 51-7-4 fixes the reported rate at $2.85 per page for an original transcript. A copy runs $1 per page. Whether one exists at all depends on whether the proceeding was recorded. Ask the court office which reporter covered the hearing. Give staff the hearing date, judge, and case number. That helps them find the right proceeding without guessing. And remember that a docket summary is never a word-for-word account of testimony.