Access St. Charles Parish Criminal Records

St. Charles Parish criminal records are filed with the Clerk of Court in Hahnville and handled by the 29th Judicial District Court, covering felony charges, misdemeanor offenses, arrests, indictments, and convictions for criminal cases originating in St. Charles Parish.

St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court

The St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court is the official custodian of all criminal court records for St. Charles Parish. The mailing address is P.O. Box 424, Hahnville, LA 70057. The main phone number is (985) 783-6632. The St. Charles Parish clerk maintains every criminal case file from the 29th Judicial District Court, covering arrests, charges, felony indictments, plea agreements, and criminal sentences for every defendant who faced prosecution in St. Charles Parish. Under Louisiana Revised Statute 44:31, any member of the public has the right to inspect St. Charles Parish criminal records at no cost during regular office hours. You do not need an attorney, a court order, or a stated reason to view a public St. Charles Parish criminal case file.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. The physical courthouse is in Hahnville on the west bank of the Mississippi River. When you visit, bring a valid photo ID and the full name of the person you are searching or any known St. Charles Parish criminal case number. The St. Charles Parish clerk's staff can run a name search through the criminal court index and locate matching criminal case files. Plain copies, certified copies, and other St. Charles Parish criminal document requests all carry fees that must be paid at the time of the request.

The St. Charles Parish criminal case file for any criminal proceeding contains all documents filed from the initial charge through the final disposition. That includes the bill of information or indictment, arraignment records, pretrial criminal motions, hearing minutes, the verdict or plea, and the sentencing order. Minute entries from each St. Charles Parish criminal court date give the outline of a case. The clerk can also confirm the current status and next date for any active St. Charles Parish criminal case.

Note: The St. Charles Parish Courthouse is in Hahnville, which can take 30 to 45 minutes to reach from the New Orleans metro. Confirm what St. Charles Parish criminal records you need by phone before making the trip to the St. Charles Parish clerk's office.

Searching Criminal Records in St. Charles Parish

The most thorough approach to St. Charles Parish criminal records is visiting the clerk's office in Hahnville. Bring the subject's full name and any known date of birth or criminal case number. A name search through the St. Charles Parish criminal court index will pull all criminal cases filed under that name in St. Charles Parish, covering felony charges, misdemeanor charges, and any arrest warrants or indictments on file. You can view any public St. Charles Parish criminal case file at no cost. Copies require payment of the applicable fees. The St. Charles Parish clerk's staff can walk you through the process if you have not searched criminal court records before.

For online access to St. Charles Parish criminal records, the ClerkConnect multi-parish portal provides criminal court index records from many Louisiana parishes including St. Charles Parish. A subscription is required for full document access, though basic St. Charles Parish criminal case index lookups may return case numbers and filing dates without a paid account. ClerkConnect is useful when you need to check criminal records in adjacent parishes like Jefferson or St. John the Baptist at the same time, since it covers all of them in one place.

ClerkConnect gives you a single login to search across St. Charles Parish and other parish criminal court systems, which saves time when a criminal case may involve more than one parish or when you need to check arrest records across multiple jurisdictions.

The Louisiana State Police Internet Background Check at ibc.dps.louisiana.gov provides a name-based statewide criminal history search for a fee. It pulls from the BCII repository, which collects St. Charles Parish arrests, charges, and dispositions reported from parishes across Louisiana. It is a fast way to get a broad overview of criminal history but does not replace a full St. Charles Parish clerk search for specific criminal case documents or certified records.

St. Charles Parish Court System

The 29th Judicial District Court handles all felony criminal cases in St. Charles Parish. The court is based in Hahnville. Judges of the 29th JDC handle arraignments, bond hearings, pretrial proceedings, trials, and sentencing for all felony criminal cases originating in St. Charles Parish. The criminal docket for the parish runs through this single-parish district court. Post-conviction matters including expungement petitions for St. Charles Parish criminal records also go through the 29th JDC, which covers only St. Charles Parish and gives it a focused and consistent criminal case management structure.

Appeals from St. Charles Parish criminal convictions in the 29th JDC go to the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, based in Gretna. The Fifth Circuit covers the west bank parishes in the metro New Orleans area including St. Charles Parish, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, and Lafourche. If you need records from a St. Charles Parish criminal case that was appealed to the Fifth Circuit, contact that court directly rather than the St. Charles Parish clerk, as those appellate records are maintained separately.

Lower-level St. Charles Parish criminal matters such as misdemeanors and local ordinance violations may be handled by a justice of the peace court. Those St. Charles Parish criminal records are kept separately from the district court clerk's files. If your search involves a minor criminal offense or traffic matter in St. Charles Parish, ask the St. Charles Parish clerk's office which court handled the matter and where those St. Charles Parish criminal case records are maintained.

State Criminal Records Resources

The Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information manages the statewide criminal history database. BCII collects arrest and disposition records from law enforcement agencies and courts in all 64 parishes, including St. Charles Parish. You can request a St. Charles Parish criminal history check through the Internet Background Check portal online or by mail using forms at lsp.org/services/background-checks/bcii-forms. Both options search the same state repository that includes St. Charles Parish criminal records, arrests, charges, and conviction data.

The IBC portal returns results quickly and is available around the clock, unlike mail requests which take longer to process for St. Charles Parish criminal history and statewide records.

The Louisiana Department of Corrections at doc.la.gov has a free offender search tool covering current and former DOC inmates and anyone under active probation or parole. If you are looking for someone who served or is serving a state sentence following a St. Charles Parish criminal conviction rather than a local jail term, the DOC search is the right tool. It is free and does not require a subscription or login to use.

For general state agency information and links to courts, law enforcement, and other public record holders, visit louisiana.gov. The state portal connects to LSP, the DOC, and the St. Charles Parish court system from one central location for St. Charles Parish criminal record research across Louisiana.

Expunging Records in St. Charles Parish

Louisiana's expungement statute is La. R.S. 44:9. That law governs who can seek a St. Charles Parish criminal record expungement, the filing process, and what fees are required. For a standard St. Charles Parish criminal record expungement, the total cost is approximately $550. That breaks down as $300 paid to the St. Charles Parish clerk of court and $250 paid to the Louisiana State Police by USPS money order. All fees are non-refundable. For St. Charles Parish criminal cases, file the expungement petition with the 29th JDC Clerk of Court in Hahnville.

After filing, you must serve copies of the St. Charles Parish expungement petition on the clerk, the district attorney, the arresting agency, and the Louisiana State Police. Each has 60 days to object. If no agency files an objection within that period, the court may grant the St. Charles Parish criminal record expungement without a hearing. If an objection is filed, a hearing is scheduled and both the petitioner and the objecting agency present their positions before the court decides on the criminal record petition.

Not every St. Charles Parish criminal record qualifies for expungement. Crimes of violence, sex offenses, and a range of serious felony convictions are excluded from expungement eligibility under the statute. St. Charles Parish arrests without conviction, dismissed St. Charles Parish criminal charges, and some first-offense drug matters may qualify, subject to the waiting periods set in La. R.S. 44:9. Those waiting periods vary by charge type. DWI expungements in St. Charles Parish carry a higher total cost due to an extra fee to the Office of Motor Vehicles. Review eligibility before submitting fees, since they are not returned if the court denies the St. Charles Parish expungement petition.

Note: Once a St. Charles Parish criminal record expungement is granted, the record is not destroyed but is removed from public access and is no longer visible in standard criminal records searches.

Record Access and Copy Fees

Inspecting public St. Charles Parish criminal records at the Clerk of Court is free under La. R.S. 44:31. Fees apply only when you request copies of St. Charles Parish criminal records. Standard Louisiana clerk copy fees are typically $1.00 per page for plain copies. Certified copies cost more, usually around $5.00 per document plus the per-page rate. A name-based St. Charles Parish criminal index search may carry a separate fee depending on the local schedule. Call (985) 783-6632 to get the current rates before you visit or send a St. Charles Parish criminal records mail request.

Mail requests for St. Charles Parish criminal records are accepted by the clerk's office. Send a written request that includes the subject's full name, date of birth if known, case number if available, the type of St. Charles Parish criminal document needed, the number of copies, and a check or money order payable to the St. Charles Parish Clerk of Court. The clerk will contact you if the fees you sent are not enough to cover the full cost of the St. Charles Parish criminal records request.

For online access through ClerkConnect, fees vary by subscription level and document type for St. Charles Parish criminal records. The Louisiana State Police Internet Background Check charges a set fee per criminal history search, paid at the time of the request. That fee is non-refundable regardless of whether the search returns any results for the name you submit. Check the current fee on the LSP website before using the portal for St. Charles Parish criminal history.

Nearby Parishes

These parishes border or are near St. Charles Parish. Each has its own clerk and court system for criminal records that is separate from the St. Charles Parish criminal court system.