Ozaukee County Criminal Court Cases
The Ozaukee County criminal court channel routes state criminal matters to Wisconsin Circuit Court. That court has general jurisdiction over felonies and state criminal misdemeanors. Ozaukee County has three Circuit Court branches, all based at the Justice Center in Port Washington. The Clerk of Circuit Court keeps the public case file. Municipal courts serve a different role: they handle ordinance and traffic forfeiture matters, not felony convictions.
A Circuit Court file begins when the prosecutor files a charge. It may then record an initial appearance, a preliminary examination or waiver in a felony matter, arraignment, motions, plea or trial, judgment, and sentence. A police report begins earlier and remains with the arresting agency. That distinction matters because a person may have an arrest record with no filed Ozaukee County criminal case, or a court count may differ from the charge listed at booking.
Search Ozaukee Cases in WCCA
Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, known as WCCA, is the official statewide public case index. It displays qualifying Ozaukee County criminal court case metadata at no charge after the user accepts its agreement. Searchers can limit results to Ozaukee County, use a case number, or try a party name. Local criminal case numbers commonly include a year, the family code CF for a felony or CM for a misdemeanor, and a sequence number.
The official WCCA gateway is shown in the manifest-approved capture below. Its controls lead from a statewide search to the Ozaukee County case summary.
That case summary is the best first view of public charges, events, hearings, and results, but it is not the whole filed court record.
Searching Ozaukee County Case Records
A sound Ozaukee County case search moves from the broad index to the exact docket, then to the Clerk for any filed paper that WCCA does not show. If a filtered query misses a known case, the county recommends trying only the first and last name. Keep spelling variants and middle names for a second pass.
- Open WCCA, select I agree, and choose Ozaukee County or a statewide scope.
- Enter the case number when known. Otherwise, search by first and last name, adding other fields only when needed.
- Open the case-number link, then select View case details for the public docket.
- Read each charge, event, hearing, disposition, sentence, bond entry, financial item, and warrant notation in context.
- Use the Clerk's Room 201 terminals for filed documents, or request copies by email, phone, fax, mail, or counter.
| Field or control | Type | Required | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| I agree | Button | Yes | Accepts the access terms |
| County | Dropdown | No | Select Ozaukee or search statewide |
| Case number | Text | No | Use the year, CF or CM code, and sequence |
| Last, first, middle name | Text | No | Start with first and last name if filters hide a result |
| Date of birth | Date or text | No | Narrows similar names where available |
| Case type | Dropdown | No | Limits results to a public case family |
Ozaukee Court Files Beyond WCCA
WCCA and the Justice Center terminals offer two different access levels. WCCA shows public case data online, including the docket chronology. It does not provide downloadable images of filed documents. The Clerk's self-help computers in Room 201 show qualifying complaints, motions, orders, judgments, and other public filings. A search that ends online may therefore miss the words used in the complaint or the terms in a signed order.
The county court-access instructions explain this online and courthouse split. Requesters who cannot use the terminals may ask the Clerk for a record by email, phone at 262-284-8420, fax at 262-284-8491, mail, or the public counter. A search without a case number costs $5 per name. Ordinary copies cost $1.25 per page, and certification costs $5 per document.
Note: WCCA can identify the docket, while the Clerk supplies the public filed document that supports a docket entry.
Inside an Ozaukee County Case File
An Ozaukee County criminal case file is organized around the prosecution rather than the arrest. The header fixes the county, court, number, filing date, type, and status. Charge rows should be read one at a time because one count may be amended or dismissed while another reaches judgment. Event and hearing entries show what happened and what is scheduled, while a judgment and sentence explain the final court action.
| Case header | Ozaukee County, court, case number, filing date, case type, and status |
|---|---|
| Parties and assignment | State, defendant, public attorneys, judge, and branch |
| Charge detail | Count, description, statute, class or severity, and count-level disposition |
| Docket events | Complaint, appearances, motions, hearings, pleas, trial, judgment, and orders |
| Schedule and bond | Public hearing date, time, type, branch, bond amount, type, and conditions when entered |
| Outcome and sentence | Dismissal, acquittal, conviction, sentence, restitution, assessments, and public financial balance |
| Warrant notation | Case Summary status that requires current verification with the issuing court or law enforcement |
A filed or open count is not a finding of guilt. A dismissal also does not automatically remove the public case entry. Look for the disposition on each count and read later events before drawing a conclusion.
Ozaukee Criminal Cases Across Three Branches
All three Ozaukee County Circuit Court branches sit at 1201 S. Spring Street. Branch 1 uses Courtroom 228, Branch 2 uses Courtroom 246, and Branch 3 uses Room 253. The public directory also lists a Court Commissioner in Room 231. The assigned judge and branch appear in case details, helping a reader match the docket to the right hearing location and clerk contact.
The official Circuit Court branch directory is represented by the approved image below. It is the current source for branch and courtroom contacts.
The three branches share one Clerk as custodian, so the assigned branch does not change the basic WCCA and Room 201 access path.
How a Criminal Case Moves
The court record starts when charges are filed, not when police make an arrest. The complaint states the first filed allegations. An initial appearance addresses the new case and release terms. A felony can include a preliminary examination or waiver before arraignment. At arraignment, the formal charge is addressed and a plea is entered. Motions, conferences, and hearings make up the pretrial part of the docket.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
A plea or trial does not end every docket. The court may add judgment, sentence, restitution, payment, supervision, or later enforcement events. Ozaukee County's published court goals note that financial enforcement can include license suspension, civil judgment, state tax intercept, and state debt collection. Those entries can appear long after the central criminal question has been resolved.
Read Ozaukee Case Results Count by Count
A disposition is the result of a charge. A conviction is a judgment of guilt after a plea or trial. An acquittal is a not-guilty result after trial. A dismissal ends a charge without conviction. When an Ozaukee County case has several counts, each may follow a different path. Never treat the overall word “open” as proof that every charge is pending or that guilt has been found.
Ozaukee County also uses diversion and deferred-prosecution agreements. February 2025 Criminal Justice Collaborating Council minutes reported 219 cases admitted to the local Diversion/DPA program to date, with 25 then current. That path can delay prosecution while a participant completes terms, and it explains why a filing may not follow a simple charge-to-conviction line.
The Ozaukee County District Attorney's office makes charging decisions and coordinates discovery. Its official page appears in the approved image below.
The DA's internal file is not the Clerk's public case file. Public docket data and court copies still come from WCCA and the Clerk.
Case Record Access & Restrictions
Wisconsin law supports access to qualifying court papers, but not every file or field is public. WCCA excludes confidential case types, sealed material, and protected data. Court filers must protect Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, driver or state identification numbers, passport numbers, and certain tax identifiers. Victim and citizen-witness names and addresses are omitted in relevant criminal and protective-order matters, as are juror names and addresses.
Wis. Stat. §59.20(3) supports inspection of qualifying papers held by the Clerk. Wis. Stat. §§801.19 through 801.21 address protected identifiers and procedures for confidential or sealed filings. If a known Ozaukee County criminal court case does not appear, try the simpler name search, confirm the court and case family, then contact the Clerk. Absence from WCCA does not establish that no sealed, confidential, juvenile, or expunged matter exists.
Keep Ozaukee Court and Police Records Apart
The Justice Center houses the Clerk, courts, District Attorney, Sheriff, and jail, but each office remains a separate custodian. The Clerk holds the complaint, motions, orders, docket, judgment, and sentence. The arresting agency holds its incident report, officer narrative, photographs, 911 material, and body-camera or other arrest video. Physical proximity does not merge those records.
That split is easy to miss in Ozaukee County because the main justice offices share one campus. A person can inspect public case documents at a Clerk terminal and still need a second request at the Sheriff's counter or a city police office. Start by naming the record itself, not merely the event. A complaint and a police narrative may discuss the same conduct, yet they were created for different tasks and can contain different detail.
Ask the Clerk for case copies and certified court documents. Ask the responding police department or Sheriff for law-enforcement material. Discovery requests tied to an Ozaukee County prosecution route to the DA Discovery Coordinator at 262-284-8380. For the earlier custody record and arrest trail, the county's arrest lookup channels explain how the agency report, jail booking, WCCA case, and state repository record differ.