Find the court case first, then use the Clerk when you need the official record
Public criminal cases filed in Indianapolis and Marion County are generally searched through Indiana’s statewide MyCase system. MyCase can show the case number, charges, attorneys, hearings, bond activity, chronological case events, disposition and certain public court documents. If you need a certified copy, a document that is not linked online, an older record, or confirmation of the official file, the Marion County Clerk is the record custodian to contact.
Marion County court records are not the same as arrest or criminal-history records
Before searching, decide what information you actually need. Indiana’s court system specifically warns that MyCase is a court-record system and should not be treated as a complete criminal-history database.
Criminal court docket
Search filed Marion County criminal cases, chronological case events, attorneys, charges and dispositions through MyCase.
Official court record
Request copies, certified documents, older material and public records not available as downloadable documents in MyCase.
Current jail custody
Use the Indianapolis/Marion County jail lookup when the question is whether a person is currently detained locally.
Arrest or incident report
Police reports and law-enforcement records are not court records and generally come from the agency that created the record.
Limited criminal history
Use ISP when the intent is an Indiana criminal-history check rather than research into one particular Marion County court case.
Federal criminal case
Federal prosecutions are separate from Marion Superior Court and normally require federal PACER access.
How to search Marion County criminal cases on Indiana MyCase
Indiana MyCase is the state’s public case-search system. Anyone can search public, non-confidential case information without paying for basic access.
Open MyCase
Start with the official Indiana Judicial Branch search rather than a commercial people-search site.
Choose Case, Party or Attorney search
Use Case search if you know the cause number or citation number. Use Party search when starting with a defendant’s name.
Limit the search to Marion County
Narrowing by Marion County helps prevent unrelated Indiana cases involving people with similar names.
Add criminal case-type or date filters when useful
If the name is common, use status, filing-date range and other available filters to reduce the result set.
Open the case summary
Confirm the case number, court, defendant and filing date before reading charges or docket activity.
Read through the final case events
Review later entries for dismissal, conviction, sentencing, probation, modification, appeal or other final action.
Use MyCase search fields carefully
MyCase can search by case, party or attorney. Indiana’s official search guidance provides several useful ways to avoid false matches.
Case number
Enter the case number, citation number or cross-reference number. Indiana says hyphens and leading zeroes are not always required.
Name
Search by last name and add first name, middle name or date of birth when additional narrowing is needed.
Wildcard / Sounds Like
MyCase provides wildcard and sounds-like options that can help when a name has spelling variations.
Marion County case numbers begin with Indiana county code 49
Indiana uses a uniform cause-number structure. A modern Marion County criminal cause number can look like:
49D17-2606-F6-016596
County
49 identifies Marion County.
Court identifier
Identifies the court division assigned to the case.
Filed date
Represents year and month of filing in the uniform numbering system.
Case type
Identifies the criminal classification—in this example, Level 6 Felony.
The final sequence identifies the individual filing within that court and period. Indiana also notes that a case number can change if a case moves to another court; MyCase searches the case-number history.
Common Indiana criminal case-type codes you may see in Marion County
| Code | Meaning | Useful context |
|---|---|---|
| MR | Murder | Indiana’s separate murder case classification. |
| F1 | Level 1 Felony | Used for qualifying offenses committed under Indiana’s current felony-level system. |
| F2 | Level 2 Felony | Felony classification. |
| F3 | Level 3 Felony | Felony classification. |
| F4 | Level 4 Felony | Felony classification. |
| F5 | Level 5 Felony | Felony classification. |
| F6 | Level 6 Felony | Felony classification. |
| CM | Criminal Misdemeanor | Used for misdemeanor criminal cases. |
| MC | Miscellaneous Criminal | Criminal matters that use the miscellaneous classification. |
| PC | Post-Conviction Relief | Post-conviction proceedings after the underlying criminal case. |
| XP | Expungement Petition | Used for petitions under Indiana Code 35-38-9. |
Older Indiana cases can use historical felony codes such as FA, FB, FC, FD or CF. Do not assume an old code follows today’s Level 1–6 system.
What a Marion County MyCase criminal docket can show
Case identity
Cause number, court, filing date and case status.
Parties
Defendant and State of Indiana, plus attorneys associated with the case.
Charges
Filed offense counts and case classification.
Bond activity
Bond-related events when entered in the court record.
Hearings
Initial hearings, pretrial proceedings, trials, sentencing or other court events.
Chronological Case Summary
The event-by-event history showing filings, orders, continuances, pleas, dispositions and other activity.
Not every public criminal document is downloadable from MyCase
Indiana distinguishes between public case information and public court documents. A criminal case can be visible online even when a particular filing is not available as a downloadable document.
Current Indiana public-access guidance generally makes some criminal documents remotely available, including public final orders and judgments. Miscellaneous criminal cases can have broader non-confidential document access.
If it is your own case, MyCase party access may show more documents
A party to an Indiana court case can create an Indiana Courts account and request an access code to connect an eligible case to the account.
Once connected, the party may be able to see documents that are not available to an ordinary anonymous public user, subject to Indiana access rules and case-specific restrictions.
What to do when you cannot find a Marion County criminal case
Other reasons a record may not appear publicly include confidentiality, expungement, sealing, an older converted record, an incorrect name or a case maintained by a different court or agency.
Marion County criminal cases are handled through Marion Superior Court
Marion County is Indiana Judicial District 13. Current court operations include Marion Superior Court criminal divisions and an Initial Hearing Court at the Community Justice Campus.
The Indiana Judicial Branch provides the official Marion County court page: Marion County Courts.
Community Justice Campus
675 Justice WayIndianapolis, IN 46203
Current Marion Superior Court materials state that court proceedings are held at this address unless the court gives different notice.
Marion County Clerk’s Office
City-County Building200 E. Washington St., Suite W122
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Email:
ClerkPublic@indy.gov
Public hours: 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Monday–Friday
Use Marion Superior Court’s daily slates for current courtroom information
Marion Superior Court publishes current court contact information and daily slate links. This is useful when MyCase shows a hearing but you need the correct courtroom or division information.
Court assignments, judicial officers and courtroom contact details can change, so the current official slate/contact listing is better than relying on an old directory copied by a third-party website.
Current Marion Court Contacts & SlatesInitial Hearing Court handles the earliest stage of many new criminal cases
The Marion County Clerk’s Criminal Division and Initial Hearing Court process new criminal matters, bail bonds, case initiation, search warrants, probation violations and related criminal filings.
Initial Hearing Court
Community Justice Campus675 Justice Way
Indianapolis, IN 46203
Phone: 317-327-8015
How to request an official Marion County criminal court record
MyCase is convenient for research, but Indiana expressly states that information displayed online is not the official court record. Official records come from the court or clerk maintaining the file.
Find the case number in MyCase
Copy the full Marion County cause number to make the Clerk’s search faster.
Identify the document you need
Examples include sentencing order, judgment, disposition, charging document or another specific public filing.
Choose plain or certified copy
A plain copy may be enough for research. If an employer, court, licensing body, immigration authority or another institution asks for an official certified copy, request certification from the Clerk.
Submit the request to the Marion County Clerk
Marion County provides record-request and copy services through its Clerk’s Office.
Community Justice Campus location
Marion County Community Justice Campus
675 Justice WayIndianapolis, IN 46203
The campus includes Marion County court operations, the Adult Detention Center and Sheriff’s Office functions.
Marion County’s visitor information identifies both paid and free parking areas around the campus. Public transit routes also serve the area. Check current court instructions before traveling for a scheduled hearing.
Use the Marion County jail search for current local custody
Court dockets and jail records answer different questions. A person can be in custody before the court case has developed a full docket history.
Indianapolis provides an official Find a Person in Jail service that directs users to the Marion County inmate lookup.
Use for current detention
Helpful for recent bookings, current custody and local jail status.
Use for the court prosecution
Helpful for charges filed in court, hearings, bond events, disposition and sentencing.
A MyCase docket can show warrant activity, but it is not a complete live warrant database
A specific criminal case may contain chronological entries showing that a warrant was issued, recalled, served or otherwise addressed. That does not mean a general MyCase name search should be treated as a real-time warrant clearance.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division is responsible for execution of criminal and civil warrants in Marion County.
Marion County Sheriff’s Office contact information:
Phone: 317-327-1700
Arrest reports and police reports are not Marion County court records
Indiana’s Judicial Branch explicitly distinguishes criminal-history, arrest and police records from court records. Law-enforcement records are maintained by law-enforcement agencies rather than by the courts.
In Indianapolis, a police incident or arrest record may be maintained by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department or another law-enforcement agency involved in the event.
The city provides a public-record request service for qualifying Indianapolis/Marion County government records.
For an Indiana criminal-history check, use Indiana State Police—not MyCase
Indiana State Police offers a Limited Criminal History service.
The service is name- and date-of-birth based and searches Indiana records. ISP explains that a Limited Criminal History is not the same thing as a full national fingerprint-based criminal-history search.
| Question | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Was a criminal case filed in Marion County? | MyCase | Searches public court case records. |
| What happened in that court case? | MyCase + Clerk | Review docket and obtain official disposition if needed. |
| Is someone currently in Marion County jail? | County jail lookup | Current local custody is separate from the court docket. |
| Do I need an Indiana criminal-history report? | Indiana State Police | State criminal-history service rather than one county court. |
| Do I need nationwide fingerprint history? | Fingerprint/FBI route | A state-limited search does not cover the entire United States. |
Marion County criminal appeals can also be researched through Indiana court systems
Criminal appeals from Marion County can proceed into the Indiana Court of Appeals and, in qualifying matters, the Indiana Supreme Court.
Indiana provides appellate case searching that can be narrowed by county of origin, trial court, case type, party, attorney and filing date.
Indiana Appellate Docket HelpJuvenile criminal records have different access rules
Juvenile delinquency information should not be treated like an ordinary adult criminal docket. Indiana court-access rules restrict confidential juvenile material and other protected information.
Marion County’s Clerk also has separate juvenile procedures and access rules. If you are a party to a juvenile matter, contact the Clerk or court for the correct access process rather than assuming the file should appear publicly in MyCase.
Indiana’s Second Chance Law can remove qualifying cases from ordinary public access
Indiana Code 35-38-9 governs criminal-record expungement. Indiana court guidance explains that expungement generally restricts public access rather than literally destroying every government record.
Once an expungement is granted, the related case may be removed from ordinary MyCase public access depending on the type of relief.
May remain public
Indiana’s public-access rules allow public access to certain pending or denied expungement records when they are non-confidential.
Removed from ordinary online public access
Granted expungement-petition records are not available to the general public online through ordinary MyCase access.
Federal criminal cases filed in Indianapolis are separate from Marion Superior Court
A federal prosecution is not an Indiana state trial-court case and will not be fully researched through a Marion County MyCase search.
Use PACER for federal court records. Federal criminal matters arising in Indianapolis are generally handled through the federal judiciary rather than Marion Superior Court.
A person seeking their own FBI Identity History Summary should use the FBI’s official fingerprint-based process.
FBI Identity History SummaryMarion County search tips that save time
Use county code 49
A modern Marion County Indiana case number normally begins with 49.
Use the full cause number
If you know it, a full cause number is usually faster and safer than a common-name search.
Check current court slates
For an upcoming hearing, use Marion’s current slate/contact listing instead of an old directory.
Search jail + court after a new arrest
Current custody may appear before the court docket develops a complete history.
Remove DOB if search fails
Indiana warns that DOB is not present in every record and can sometimes over-filter results.
Try wildcard or sounds-like
Useful for alternate spellings, former names or converted historical records.
Read the disposition
The original charge does not tell you how the prosecution ended.
Ask the Clerk for missing documents
No MyCase document link does not mean a public document does not exist.
Don’t call MyCase a background check
Indiana’s Judicial Branch specifically says MyCase is not a complete criminal-history service.
Using Marion County criminal records for employment, housing or other decisions
Public court research is not automatically the same thing as a legally compliant consumer background report. Different federal and state rules can apply when criminal information is used for employment, housing, credit, licensing or other eligibility decisions.
Frequently asked questions about Marion County criminal court records
1. Where do I search Marion County, Indiana criminal court cases?
Use Indiana MyCase at public.courts.in.gov/mycase. Limit the search to Marion County and use a case number or defendant name. Public non-confidential case information is available without charge.
2. Is MyCase an official criminal background check?
No. Indiana’s Judicial Branch states that MyCase is a court-record search and should not be used as a complete criminal-history service. Indiana State Police provides separate criminal-history services.
3. What does 49 mean in a Marion County Indiana case number?
Indiana’s uniform case-number system uses 49 as the county identifier for Marion County.
4. What do F6 and CM mean in Indiana criminal case numbers?
F6 means Level 6 Felony and CM means Criminal Misdemeanor. Indiana also uses F1 through F5, MR for Murder, MC for Miscellaneous Criminal and other historical criminal codes.
5. Can I download Marion County criminal court documents online?
Some public documents are available through MyCase, including certain final orders and judgments. If a public document is not linked online, contact the Marion County Clerk for access or a copy.
6. How do I get a certified Marion County criminal record?
Request the record from the Marion County Clerk. MyCase provides online case information but the court or Clerk maintains the official court record.
7. How do I find someone currently in Marion County jail?
Use Indianapolis’ official Find a Person in Jail service, which directs users to Marion County’s inmate-information system.
8. Why did an old Marion County case disappear from MyCase?
Possible reasons include expungement, sealing, confidentiality or changes in public access. Granted expungements can be removed from ordinary public MyCase visibility.
9. Can I search Marion County warrants on MyCase?
A particular docket can show warrant-related case events, but MyCase should not be treated as a complete live warrant database. Contact the responsible court or Marion County Sheriff’s Office when current warrant status matters.
10. Are federal criminal cases included in Marion County MyCase results?
No. Federal prosecutions use the federal court system. PACER is the primary federal electronic court-record service.
Official sources for Marion County criminal-record research
- Indiana Judicial Branch — MyCase
- Indiana Judicial Branch — MyCase Help
- Indiana Judicial Branch — MyCase Search Tips
- Indiana Judicial Branch — Public Access to Court Documents
- Indiana Judicial Branch — Marion County
- Marion County Clerk’s Office
- Marion County — Request Copies of Court Records
- Indianapolis — Find a Person in Jail
- Marion County Sheriff’s Office Resources
- Indiana State Police — Limited Criminal History
- Indiana Judicial Branch — How to Request Public Records
- Indiana Courts — Criminal Expungement Guidance
- PACER — Federal Court Records