Criminal Court Cases in Union County
Union County Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court for felony criminal matters and other circuit cases. It belongs to Arkansas's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. The Union County Circuit Clerk keeps those case files at the county courthouse in El Dorado. Lower-level district or municipal matters, including local tickets and some misdemeanor cases, route through the Union County District Court and municipal clerk channel instead. The court that received the charge controls where the official file is held.
A court file is not a jail roster. It begins when a complaint, information, or indictment is filed and then tracks court action. The docket may show a judge, parties, filings, charges, future events, dispositions, judgments, and linked public papers. A booking charge can change before filing. For that reason, readers tracing an arrest should use the Union County arrest search for custody facts and the court file for the filed charge and final result.
Union County Circuit Clerk Desk
The Circuit Clerk's criminal record counter is in Suite 201 at 101 North Washington, El Dorado, Arkansas 71730-5661. The office phone is (870) 864-1940, and the posted hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The clerk can address official copies, court appearances, payment questions, and warrants tied to circuit cases. District or municipal matters instead route to the clerk line at (870) 864-1950.
Union County Circuit Clerk
101 N. Washington, Suite 201
El Dorado, AR 71730-5661
(870) 864-1940
Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Union County District Court
District and municipal case questions
(870) 864-1950
Official court app site
The local district court app covers payments, tickets, court dates, closures, office hours, and fees. It does not replace Search ARCourts for circuit case research.
Union County Case Record Searches
Search ARCourts is the free statewide public search for participating courts. It works best when a case number is known. A name search can also work, but common names should be narrowed with court, county, date, or other advanced filters shown by the app. Search results are useful leads, not certified court records.
- Open Search ARCourts and choose a participant or case search.
- Enter the first, middle, and last name, or use the known case number.
- Narrow the result to Union County, the correct court, and a useful date range.
- Open the case and read its filings, charges, events, disposition, and judgment fields together.
- Ask the Circuit Clerk or district clerk for missing papers and official copies.
The Arkansas Judiciary overview of Search ARCourts explains both its public purpose and its limits. The search screen uses the following inputs.
| Field | Type | Required | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| First, middle, last name | Text | No | Participant search; add more name detail for common names. |
| Case number | Text | No | Direct route when the clerk or a notice supplied the number. |
| Organization or description | Text | No | Alternative participant or case-description search. |
| Advanced filters | Controls | No | Narrow by the court, county, date, or case detail available in the app. |
The image from the Arkansas Judiciary online-services page shows the official statewide route to public case information.
That statewide layer is the practical first pass, while the Union County clerk remains the source for an official file.
Union County Online Results Are Leads
Search ARCourts printouts carry a warning that they are not official court records. Detail and public document links vary by court and case. Statistical information may exist even when the full docket does not. A missing document therefore does not show that no filing exists, and a name match alone does not prove identity. Compare the court, case number, filing date, and charge before relying on a result.
Use the clerk when a record must be certified, when an old file is absent online, or when a document link is missing. Union County lists plain copies at $0.50 per page, certified copies at $5, and authenticated copies at $15. An authenticated copy serves a different formal purpose than a routine printout, so state the intended use when asking which form is needed.
| Copy type | Union County fee | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Plain copy | $0.50 per page | Reading a filing or docket paper. |
| Certified copy | $5.00 | Clerk-certified court record. |
| Authenticated copy | $15.00 | Formal authentication when specifically required. |
The official Union County inmate roster is pictured in the assigned source capture.
It illustrates why custody entries must be followed into the clerk's file before drawing a conclusion about a prosecution.
What a Criminal Case File Contains
A Union County criminal case file joins events that occur at different points in the prosecution. Read the docket in date order. The charging paper states what the prosecutor filed, while later entries may amend or dismiss a count. A plea or trial entry describes how guilt was decided. The disposition and judgment show the outcome, and sentencing papers state the terms ordered by the court.
| Case number and court | Identifies the file, court level, and jurisdiction holding the official record. |
|---|---|
| Charging document | Complaint, information, or indictment stating the filed allegations. |
| Docket entries | Dated record of filings, motions, notices, and court action. |
| Hearings and judge | Past and future events plus the judicial officer assigned. |
| Charges and dispositions | Each count and its result, which may differ from the booking allegation. |
| Judgment and sentence | Final ruling, custody or supervision terms, fines, costs, and restitution when public. |
Note: A charge is an allegation; the disposition and judgment reveal whether it ended in conviction, dismissal, acquittal, or another result.
Union County Circuit or District?
The right Union County channel depends on the court named on the paper. Felony and other circuit matters belong with the Circuit Clerk and Search ARCourts. Local tickets, fine-only matters, and district or municipal cases may instead require the district clerk or the Union County District Court AR app. The app's public landing page offers dates, payments, fees, closures, and contact tools rather than a substitute circuit docket.
The Union County District Court app page appears in the assigned source image.
Readers should use it for the lower court functions it names, then return to Search ARCourts or the Circuit Clerk when the notice identifies a circuit case.
Criminal Case Stages in Union County
A case begins with filed charges, not merely with the jail entry. The accused is brought before a court for arraignment and enters a plea. Pretrial work can include motions, discovery, scheduling, and talks about a plea. If no plea resolves the matter, the case may proceed to trial. The court then records the disposition. A conviction moves to sentencing, while a dismissal or acquittal ends without a conviction on that count.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
Search ARCourts may show future events before the case ends. Do not read a scheduled hearing as a completed result. Check later docket entries and the judgment. If a date is near or a warrant question is involved, confirm it with the clerk rather than relying only on an online event line.
Read Union County Case Outcomes
Disposition terms can change the meaning of an entire Union County case. A conviction is a guilty plea or finding entered by the court. A dismissal ends a charge without conviction. An acquittal is a not-guilty result. Nolle prosequi means the prosecutor chose not to proceed. The terms should be tied to each count because one case may contain several charges with different results.
- Arraignment
- The court appearance where a plea is entered and the case path is set.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a charge, such as conviction, dismissal, acquittal, or nolle prosequi.
- Judgment
- The court's formal statement of the result and legal effect.
- Concurrent sentence
- Sentences ordered to run at the same time.
- Consecutive sentence
- Sentences ordered to run one after another.
The docket date, disposition, and judgment should agree. When they do not seem to match, ask the clerk for the filed order rather than guessing from a short code.
Union County Reports Versus Cases
Citizen Connect is a sheriff portal, not the court's official case file. Its menu includes daily reports, incident searches, criminal papers, active calls, and inmate confinements. Those tools help locate an event or booking that may lead to a case. They cannot replace the prosecutor's filed charge, the court docket, or the judgment.
The Union County Citizen Connect menu is shown in the source capture below.
Use a report or booking number from that system as a lead. Then match the name, court, and filed case number in Search ARCourts or with the clerk.
Access Rules for Case Records
Arkansas Supreme Court Administrative Order 19 controls access to court records. Search ARCourts states that some case information is not public and will not appear online. Juvenile matters, sealed cases, protected victim details, and sensitive identifiers may be restricted or redacted. Online access can also be narrower than the paper record that the clerk may lawfully provide.
Access rule: Administrative Order 19 information explains why public court data and online court data are not always the same set.
Arkansas's Freedom of Information Act does not erase court-specific limits. State repository data is also governed by criminal-history dissemination rules and is not the same as an open Union County docket. If a case was sealed, the normal public search should not be treated as a workaround. Ask the clerk whether the file is unavailable, restricted, stored offline, or held by a different court.