If you’ve recently been charged with a crime, innocent under the Texas Public Information Act any information regarding your case is considered public record, as it was collected on the behalf of or by a government agency. With all court proceedings being public records regardless of whether a defendant has been found guilty or not, there’s a chance for harmful or defamatory information to be included in an individual’s records and potentially hinder one’s work or housing opportunities. Here are some benefits to accessing your records, and a guide on how to access Williamson County defendant criminal records by attorney.
The Importance of Accessing Williamson County Defendant Criminal Records With The Help of an Attorney:
If you’ve been charged with a criminal offense, there are several reasons why you should view your public records with an attorney. First, you’ll want to know the information contained in your records. Public records contain most of the information regarding a case and can include private personal information or damaging information about one’s charges. Given the scale of court records, it is not uncommon for sensitive private information such as an individual’s social security number to be accidentally left unredacted. Furthermore, public records can contain harmful criminal allegations against an individual that regardless of validity can harm one’s reputation and impede upon their future opportunities. If you review your criminal records with an attorney and discover information that you would prefer remains private, there’s a high likelihood that your attorney can help you either expunge your records and have them destroyed or place them under a nondisclosure order and have them sealed.
A large reason for keeping public records is that it allows for the public to watch over the courts and ensure that they are free from corruption. As such, if you’ve been convicted of a crime it is crucial that you examine your court records with an attorney to ensure that all documents are error free and contain no evidence of judicial malpractice. If you believe that you are a victim of judicial malpractice, your attorney can help you to potentially appeal your case and get your sentence overturned.
How to Access Defendant Criminal Records in Williamson County With an Attorney:
To access Williamson County criminal records begin by looking up wilco.org.
From here, click on the Court/Jail Lookup tab on the homepage.
This will direct you to the Williamson County court lookups page where you can search for:
- Criminal Case Records
- Civil, Family, and Probate Case Records
- Jail Lookup
Criminal Case Records:
To look up criminal case records, you can search by either the case, defendant, citation, attorney, or date filed.
Searching by defendant is the easiest option and requires the entry of the defendant’s first and last name. A defendant’s middle name, date of birth, and date that the case was filed can be optionally entered to refine the search.
The results for a search can be sorted by the case number, filed date, file date reversed, status, or defendant name.
Upon conducting an unrefined search by defendant, you will be presented with all of the records for defendants of that name throughout all Williamson County Courts. To find the records you’re looking for simply look at the date the case was filed or the charges associated with the case.
Once you have found the records you’re looking for, you can open them to get all the available information regarding the criminal case.
Jail Lookup:
The jail lookup is a similar process to the criminal case records lookup and will require the entry of a first and last name. The date of when a defendant was booked or released can also be included to refine a search.
Jail records include the arresting agency and charges, and individuals can also search for jail bond records to find information about the bonds associated with a case including the amount and type of bond, the status of the bond, and the bondsman agency that fulfilled the bond.
Why You May Need to Access Williamson County Defendant Criminal Records Aided by an Attorney:
While the process for looking up criminal records in Williamson County is fairly easy, the county holds a disclaimer that many of these records may be inaccurate or incomplete. Therefore, if you are interested in doing a deep dive into your records you may find more information if your attorney petitions the court for them.
Comments are closed.