Roane County Criminal Docket Searches
The fastest online tool is the official Roane County Case Search. It covers both Circuit Court and General Sessions records. Type a party name, an older case reference, a case year, or the numeric part of a case number. Under Case Type, pick Criminal. Leave the correct Court Type checked too. If you do not know which court started the case, run the query across both; otherwise the narrowed boxes return a cleaner docket list.
Offline searching still works. Call the Circuit and Criminal office at (865) 376-2390 or the General Sessions office at (865) 376-5584. The courthouse sits at 200 East Race Street in Kingston, generally Suite 11 for Circuit and Criminal matters and Suite 16 for General Sessions. Ann Goldston's staff can identify the case, let you inspect its public portion, and quote a plain or certified copy. Mail-in requests go on Roane County Form A, with the case, filing, date range, and delivery choice stated clearly.
- Choose Circuit Court or General Sessions and check Criminal.
- Enter the full party name, or use the year and final numeric case segment.
- Complete the verification box, select Find Now, and sort the returned columns.
- Open the likely match and compare the court, case type, number, and setting.
- Confirm key facts or request the official record from the responsible clerk.
Roane County Criminal Docket Number Search
Consider the sample General Sessions number 73GS1-2023-CR-12345. The CR segment marks the case as criminal. Do not paste that whole string into the portal's Case Number field. Search Help tells users to enter only the digits after the final hyphen, such as 12345, and to put the filing year in the separate Case Year box. An older case reference belongs in the Party Name or Case Reference field instead.
The fields work as a set. A name, a year, and a number together make the query exact, yet one wrong detail can bury the right case. Only the first ten words of a text query count. Quotation marks create a phrase search, and longer words get limited typo tolerance. Results cap at 2,500 rows. When a precise search comes up empty, drop one filter, recheck the court type, and try the older reference field before deciding Roane County holds no record.
Criminal Dockets: What They Show
The current General Sessions PDF is a calendar-style Criminal Court Docket, not an event-by-event file. Its header shows the generated time and the court. It also gives the Kingston location, the setting date and time, the judge, and a page number. A case row can add much more. Look for the formatted case number. An internal reference may appear too. So may the officer, a party line, the attorney, the charge count, and the cited Tennessee statute. Brief charge text may round out the row. So may the violation date, the arrest date, and a citation number when they apply.
| Case number | A formatted identifier such as 73GS1-2023-CR-12345, sometimes paired with an internal reference. |
|---|---|
| Setting | The date, time, court, and assigned judge shown in the docket header. |
| People | Officer, party-role line, accused person, and attorney when displayed. |
| Charge | Count number, Tennessee Code citation, short description, and attempt marker when used. |
| Dates | Violation and arrest dates, which are distinct from the hearing date. |
The public PDF lists no balances, bonds, judgments, disposition dates, or certified-copy flags. That is a limit of the setting list, nothing more. It does not mean the official Roane County criminal court record lacks those items.
Roane County Criminal Docket Terms
A busy Roane County criminal docket saves space with short labels. Read them with context, though. These definitions come from the county's own docket sample, not from a complete statewide codebook.
- Off:
- The citing officer shown on a criminal or traffic row.
- Count
- A numbered alleged charge within the case, not a finding of guilt.
- Violation
- The date tied to the alleged act or citation.
- PV-00-000
- Local sample shorthand for a probation-violation entry, at times followed by “BOOKED.”
- ATT
- An attempt marker used with some charge descriptions.
- Cont'd
- The case listing continues on another PDF page. It does not by itself show a reset.
Criminal Case Stages on the Docket
A criminal case in Roane County can begin two ways. A probable-cause proceeding may open it in General Sessions. Or the Roane County Grand Jury may hand down an indictment. General Sessions conducts felony preliminary hearings. It can also try a qualifying misdemeanor when grand-jury and jury-trial rights are waived. Some matters then leave General Sessions. Felony and misdemeanor cases within Criminal Court jurisdiction move through the Ninth Judicial District court.
Docket flow: Filing › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
Treat the sequence as a reading aid, not a checklist. Not every case hits every step. Motions, resets, probation proceedings, and appeals can add entries along the way. A charge line states an allegation. Only an official disposition or judgment establishes the outcome. So when the public PDF gives a setting but no result, ask the clerk for the register or the filed order rather than reading the charge text as the final word.
Roane County Criminal Docket Courts
Roane County General Sessions Court handles felony preliminary hearings and misdemeanors that meet its waiver rules. It also takes county traffic and other limited matters. Criminal Court hears the felony and misdemeanor cases within its jurisdiction. Judge Jeffery H. Wicks is listed for Criminal Court. Roane terms begin in March, June, and October. Judge names make poor search keys, because the Ninth Judicial District also includes Loudon, Meigs, and Morgan counties. The official jurisdiction pages make the split clearer. The Circuit and Criminal Courts source shows the trial-level route used for indicted or bound-over criminal cases.
That division explains why a single checkbox can hide a Roane County criminal docket. Municipal ordinance matters begin with the issuing city's court clerk. Juvenile matters sit behind a different access boundary entirely. The elected County Clerk is the wrong office. Despite the similar title, that office keeps county-government and licensing records, not these criminal case files.
Roane County Criminal Docket Settings
The General Sessions page posts a public docket link. It also sketches the court's narrow criminal workload. Schedules are where it gets murky. The online summary points to one criminal weekday, Tuesday. The local-rules table lists Monday for both judges. When the sources disagree like that, trust the paper that names your case: the notice, any signed order, and a quick call to the clerk beat any recurring calendar.
The official General Sessions source keeps felony preliminary hearings and certain misdemeanor trials inside the same courtroom footprint.
Think of a downloaded docket as a snapshot with a date on it, nothing more. Continuation pages appear when a list simply runs onto another sheet. That is paper overflow, not a sign a hearing was continued. Does a setting look stale? Has an entry read Failure to Appear? Check the county's failure-to-appear memorandum through the link provided. Then call the clerk right away for instructions that fit that case.
Missing Roane County Criminal Docket Results
A blank screen does not mean no Roane County criminal court docket exists. The query may hit the wrong court. It may paste a whole formatted number into a numeric-only field. It may stack filters that cancel each other out. The record could sit in a city court, carry an older case reference, or fall under juvenile, sealed, expunged, or other restricted treatment instead.
Strip out the least certain filter first. Search Circuit and General Sessions both, with Criminal checked. Then phone the likely clerk with the full number, the party name, an approximate filing year, and the court if known. Ann Goldston answers email at ann.goldston@tncourts.gov as well as through the office channels. For copies by mail, Form A works. Tennessee's TNCRTINFO search spans multiple offices as an availability fallback, but treat it as a pointer, not one complete statewide trial-court database.
Access Rules for Criminal Dockets
Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 34 lets the public inspect court records unless a statute, court rule, protective order, or sealing order says otherwise. One case can hold public and confidential material side by side. A visible case row does not make every attachment public. A restricted attachment, in turn, does not wipe the public docket event off the record.
Roane County takes an oral inspection request in person or by phone. Copies are different: they must be written on Form A under county policy. That policy demands proof of Tennessee citizenship and free inspection. The custodian may set a reasonable appointment. Mailed copies require paid postage. Copies run $0.15 per black-and-white letter or legal page and $0.50 per color page. Labor is charged after one hour. Other media are billed at actual cost. These are copy-policy rates, not a certified-docket fee.
Key access rules:
Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 34 defines court-record access and confidential categories.
Tennessee Public Records Act guidance explains inspection, copies, identification, and response duties.
Official Roane County Criminal Docket Records
TNCRTINFO itself warns that its information is not the official court record. It may change without notice. So use the portal and the current PDF. Those tools locate a Roane County criminal court docket. Turn to the clerk-held file when the exact charge history, order, plea, judgment, sentence, or certification matters. The gap is real: the PDF does not carry a complete chronological history.
When you ask for a copy, name the court, the case number, and the exact document. Add the approximate filing date. Ask whether you need a plain or certified copy, and get the current price before paying. Records on hand should come promptly. When that is not practical, Roane County's Form B process requires a response within seven business days that grants access, states a lawful denial, or gives a reasonable estimate for more time. No public courthouse terminal is confirmed. Ask the clerk about terminal or lobby access before you travel.