Warren County Circuit Court

Warren County Circuit Court Overview

Circuit Court is Mississippi's primary trial court. In Warren County it carries the heaviest part of the court load. The judges here try felony crimes, hear civil lawsuits decided by a jury, and review appeals that come up from County, Justice, and Municipal courts and from county administrative boards. The same court runs the local drug and intervention program. Most of the cases that the public thinks of as "going to court" in a real, full-trial sense pass through this level.

The court is part of a wider statewide system run by the Mississippi Judiciary. The state divides its Circuit Courts into numbered districts, and Warren County is one piece of a multi-county district. The Circuit Clerk keeps the case files, while the elected Circuit judges preside over hearings and trials. Chancery Court, a separate track, handles divorce, probate, land, and other equity matters, so not every county dispute lands in Circuit Court. Sorting out which court holds a record is the first real step in any Warren County court search.

Warren County's Ninth Circuit District

Warren County sits in Mississippi's Ninth Circuit Court District, which it shares with Sharkey County and Issaquena County. Two elected Circuit judges serve the district and rotate the trial work across all three counties. The Warren County Courthouse in Vicksburg is the main physical home for the district's local hearings and case files.

Judge M. James Chaney, Jr. is one of the district's Circuit judges. His official Ninth Circuit Court District site posts trial docket access, frequently used forms, jury policies, court procedures for civil and criminal matters, and drug court contacts. The chambers list the mailing address as P.O. Box 351, Vicksburg, MS 39181, with phone 601-638-8981 and fax 601-630-8033, and the email jchaney@co.warren.ms.us. Court Administrator Lee Ann Stuart helps manage the schedule, and court reporters LaLisa Lindemann and Kristy Johnson handle the record of proceedings.

Judge Terrett serves the district as well. The Judge Terrett site publishes civil forms, criminal forms, judge information, a juror exit survey, and an online jury excuse form. Jurors who need to ask about service can call 601-630-0150 with questions about the excuse process. Both judge sites are good starting points for forms and procedure before a hearing.

Courts and Offices Serving Warren County

More than one court touches Warren County cases, and each one keeps its own files. The table below lists the main courts and offices in Vicksburg, with an address, a phone line, and the kind of work each handles. Use it to point a record request at the office that actually holds the file before you call or drive downtown.

The Circuit Clerk and Chancery Clerk both work out of 1009 Cherry Street, but they hold different files. A felony case sits with the Circuit Clerk. A will or a divorce sits with the Chancery Clerk. The official county website keeps current pages for each office, so it pays to check the custodian first.

Circuit Court vs County Court vs Justice Court

Mississippi spreads trial work across several court levels, and the lines can blur. Circuit Court takes the biggest criminal and civil cases. County Court shares some of that load and adds youth and eminent-domain work. Justice Court is the entry-level county court for small cases and the first stop for many citations. The comparison below shows how the three levels split the work in Warren County.

Justice Court and Municipal Court are the busiest by volume because most tickets and minor charges start there. Circuit Court is busier by weight, since the cases that reach it carry the longest sentences and the largest money claims. A case can climb from one level to the next on appeal, which is why the same dispute may show up in two different sets of files over time.

How a Case Moves Through Warren County Courts

A case rarely starts and ends in one room. Criminal matters often begin with an arrest and a first appearance in a lower court, then move up to Circuit Court once a grand jury or the District Attorney files formal charges. Civil suits with a jury start in Circuit Court and end there unless a party appeals. The flow lines below show the usual path for each track in Mississippi.

Case-flow path: Justice / Municipal Court › County Court › Circuit Court › Court of Appeals

Criminal flow: Arrest › First Appearance › Indictment or Information › Arraignment › Pretrial › Trial › Sentencing › Appeal

Civil jury flow: Complaint Filed › Answer › Discovery › Motions › Trial › Judgment › Appeal

Appeals from Circuit Court go to the state appellate system, which includes the Mississippi Court of Appeals and the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Mississippi Judiciary explains the full structure and how each court fits into it. Knowing the path helps a reader guess where an older file or a pending appeal might sit.

Felony and Civil Jurisdiction in Warren County Circuit Court

Circuit Court is the felony venue in Warren County. Charges like burglary, drug trafficking, aggravated assault, robbery, and other serious crimes are tried here after the case is formally charged. District Attorney Richard "Ricky" Smith, Jr. prosecutes these matters for the Ninth Circuit. A defendant who pleads not guilty can demand a jury trial, and the jury decides guilt while the judge sets the sentence within the limits set by state law.

On the civil side, Circuit Court hears lawsuits that ask for money damages or other relief and that are not equity matters. Common examples include personal-injury claims, contract disputes, and property-damage suits. The court file may hold a complaint, an answer, motions, orders, a judgment, and writs that enforce a judgment. Abstracts of judgment, garnishments, and executions are all part of the civil collection process that runs through this court.

Family cases, probate, and land-title fights are not Circuit Court matters in Mississippi. Those go to Chancery Court instead. That split is one of the most common points of confusion for people new to the state's courts.

Appeals to the Warren County Circuit Court

One of the Circuit Court's core jobs is to review decisions from the courts below it. The Mississippi Judiciary notes that Circuit Courts hear appeals from County, Justice, and Municipal courts and from administrative agencies and boards. So a person who loses in Justice Court or in Vicksburg Municipal Court may be able to take the case up to Circuit Court for a fresh look.

These appeals are not all the same. Some are tried again from the start, while others are reviewed on the existing record. Filing rules and time limits are strict, and the Circuit Clerk charges set fees to move an appeal up. The clerk's published schedule lists an appeal from Justice or Municipal Court and a separate fee for an appeal from County Court to Circuit Court. Anyone planning an appeal should confirm the deadline and the cost with the clerk before filing.

Note: Appeals from administrative boards, such as zoning or licensing bodies, also land in Circuit Court, so the docket holds more than just criminal and personal-injury cases.

Warren County Circuit Court Case Records

Circuit Court case files are kept by the Circuit Clerk, not by the judges. The clerk holds complaints, indictments, motions, orders, judgments, and sentencing papers. Mississippi runs a statewide electronic system called Mississippi Electronic Courts, and public access flows through the Public Access to Mississippi Electronic Courts portal. That system is login-gated, so it works as a registered-user service rather than a free open name search.

When a record is not online or a reader needs a certified copy, the Circuit Clerk's request form is the official fallback. The form requires a case number and a clear description of the documents wanted, and it limits each request to five documents. Copy charges start at $1.00 per page, with search time billed at $15.00 per hour, and the clerk states a 14-day window to comply. A full profile of the office, its fees, and its request steps lives on the Warren County Circuit Clerk page.

A typical Circuit Court file shows the case number, the court name, the filing date, the case type, the party names, the attorneys, the judge, the docket entries, hearing dates, orders, and the final judgment or disposition. Hearing dates and trial settings move often, so a current docket is the best way to confirm what comes next. The Warren County court dockets page covers how to read those entries and where each court posts them.

Ninth Circuit Intervention and Drug Court

The Ninth Circuit runs an intervention and drug court program as an alternative path for eligible defendants who struggle with substance abuse. Judge Chaney's site describes the drug court as a structured rehabilitation option inside the criminal justice system rather than a straight prison route. It is a Circuit-level specialty docket, supervised by the same judges who hear the felony trials.

The program lists its own staff. Sharonda Taylor serves as Drug Court Coordinator, with Michael Shufflesworth and Daniel Harris, Jr. listed as drug court field officers. Eligibility, length, testing schedules, and graduation terms are set case by case and are not posted as a public checklist, so a defendant or family member should ask defense counsel or the court whether the program fits a given charge. The judge's official site is the right place to start for forms and contacts.

Transcripts and Warren County Court Reporters

A transcript is the word-for-word written record of what was said in court. It is not the same as a case file, and the Circuit Clerk does not keep it. The clerk's own request form states plainly that the Circuit Clerk does not have transcripts and that the requester must contact the court reporter instead.

For the Ninth Circuit, the court reporters listed with Judge Chaney's chambers are LaLisa Lindemann and Kristy Johnson. A party who needs a hearing or trial transcript, often for an appeal, should reach the court reporter through the judge's office and ask about the cost and the turnaround. Transcripts can take time to prepare, so it helps to order early when a filing deadline is close.

Warren County Courthouse and Its History

The working Warren County Courthouse sits at 1009 Cherry Street in downtown Vicksburg, and offices keep regular hours of Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except legal holidays. The Circuit Court, Circuit Clerk, Chancery Clerk, County Court, and District Attorney all tie to this address. Treat the courthouse as the in-person fallback for file inspection, certified copies, and filings when an online path falls short.

Across the street stands the older landmark courthouse that gives the district its deep history. The Old Warren County Court House at 1008 Cherry Street was built in 1858 and now serves as a museum. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History keeps the official record for the building, and its property facts page lists the construction date, the Greek Revival style, and its National Historic Landmark and National Register listings dated May 23, 1968.

That archive entry confirms the old courthouse's status as one of Vicksburg's most historic structures, a building that survived Civil War shelling and hosted figures from Jefferson Davis to Theodore Roosevelt. The current Circuit Court is the modern heir to that long local court tradition.

Federal Courts for Warren County

Not every case from Warren County stays in state court. Federal crimes, federal-question civil suits, and civil-rights claims are heard in the federal system instead. Warren County falls under the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, the trial court for federal matters across the southern half of the state.

That court groups its counties into divisions, and the placement decides which courthouse handles a local federal case. The Southern District's divisional county listing places Warren County in the Northern Division, which uses the Jackson courthouse. The Thad Cochran United States Courthouse on East Court Street in Jackson is the filing point for that division.

The court also publishes a directory of where each office sits and how to reach the clerk. The Southern District's court locations page lists the Jackson, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, and Natchez offices with addresses and phone numbers. A Warren County resident with federal business will most often deal with the Jackson location.

Bankruptcy is a separate federal track. People in Warren County file through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, which handles Chapter 7, Chapter 13, and other federal insolvency cases. The bankruptcy court keeps its own judges, clerk, and courthouse locations apart from the district court.

Bankruptcy filings move through an electronic system. The court's CM/ECF filing portal is where attorneys and registered filers submit documents and track a case. For public access to most federal dockets and documents, the official service is PACER, which charges a small per-page fee and covers both the district and bankruptcy courts.

That CM/ECF system is built for filing rather than open browsing, so most members of the public who want to read a federal file will use PACER. Federal records are never held by the Warren County clerks, so any federal case search has to go through these national systems.