Criminal Cases in the Estill County Courts
Estill Circuit Court is part of Kentucky's 23rd Judicial Circuit. It handles capital offenses and felony cases after indictment or information, along with Circuit appeals. Estill District Court handles misdemeanors, violations, traffic, city and county ordinances, arraignments, and felony probable-cause proceedings. Both courts sit at the Estill County Courthouse, 130 Main Street, Suite 207, Irvine, KY 40336. Irvine and Ravenna have no separate municipal courts.
Stephanie Brinegar Cassidy is the elected circuit clerk and custodian of both local court divisions. The clerk's number is 606-723-3970, and the counter is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Chief Circuit Judge Michael Dean and District Judge William "Bo" Leach are listed on the official Estill court page. The clerk can confirm whether a case file is at Suite 207, stored at a record facility, or unavailable due to a sealing, expungement, or retention action.
The Kentucky Court of Justice county page provides the source view of the courthouse and clerk details.
The image points to the same office that keeps signed Estill County orders, pleadings, and judgments.
Guest CourtNet Leads to Estill Cases
KYeCourts Guest CourtNet provides public summaries and event access across Kentucky's 120 counties. It can locate an Estill County case when a person has a case number or enough name and county context. The public interface may require guest entry and acceptance of terms. Search results should be treated as leads because names can collide and interface labels can change.
A summary can show county, division, number, type, filing date, status, parties, charges, amendments, and public docket events. It does not promise free copies of pleadings, citations, evidence, recordings, or transcripts. A signed judgment or certified order must be requested from the Estill clerk. That distinction matters when a screen result is incomplete, a later event has not appeared, or the reader needs proof of the court's actual ruling.
The official guest entry shows the statewide access point used for Estill criminal case leads.
The portal's reach is statewide, while the Estill clerk remains the source for the local official case file.
How to Search Case Records
Begin with a case number when one is known. Otherwise, use the available party or name controls and narrow the context to Estill County. Compare the division, filing year, case type, charge, and event trail before accepting a match. One alleged felony may create both an F entry in District Court and a CR entry in Circuit Court. The search should follow both when the docket shows that procedural move.
- Enter Guest CourtNet through the public guest route and accept any current access terms.
- Use the known case number, or search the available party and name controls with Estill County context.
- Check whether the result is an F, M, T, or CR case and compare the filing and charge details.
- Open the public event trail and note arraignment, grand-jury, plea, motion, judgment, and sentence entries.
- Call the Estill clerk with the number to request the underlying document, certified copy, or archive locator.
The public interface is updated over time, so only fields confirmed by the Estill research are listed here.
| Search field | Input | Use | Estill note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case number | Text | Direct lookup | Best route when supplied by the clerk or citation |
| Party or name | Text | Person search | Compare identity and case context carefully |
| County | Selection or case context | Narrow location | Use Estill for the local docket |
| Case type | F, M, T, or CR context | Distinguish division and stage | A felony may have both F and CR numbers |
Estill Case Numbers in Plain Terms
An F case commonly marks an initial District Court felony stage. An M case is a District misdemeanor, while T marks traffic. A CR case is a Circuit criminal prosecution after indictment or information. A misdemeanor indictment that is not joined with a felony is docketed in District Court. A misdemeanor joined with a felony remains in Circuit Court. These labels identify where the case sits, not the final outcome.
Two linked numbers can describe the same incident. District Court handles arraignment and the probable-cause phase. If a grand jury returns an indictment, a new Circuit CR case begins. Direct indictments and cases that never reach indictment can make matching less neat. Compare the defendant display, charge, dates, and related-number references, then ask the clerk to confirm the link.
- Arraignment
- The court appearance where the charge is addressed and a plea process begins.
- Indictment
- A grand-jury charging document that can begin the Estill Circuit felony case.
- Disposition
- The recorded charge or case outcome, such as conviction, dismissal, diversion, or acquittal.
- Judgment
- The signed court ruling that states the outcome and, when applicable, the sentence.
What the Case File Shows
The Estill County criminal file can contain much more than a CourtNet line. It may hold a complaint or citation, indictment or information, motions, orders, bond material, hearing records, plea documents, judgment, and sentence. Docket entries show that an event occurred but do not always explain the court's full reasoning. A reader seeking the exact result should request the signed judgment or order tied to the relevant charge.
| Case number and court | Estill County, District or Circuit division, F, M, T, or CR type, filing date, and status. |
|---|---|
| Charging document | Complaint, citation, indictment, or information with the original charge and KRS citation. |
| Docket entries | Arraignment, probable-cause action, grand-jury result, plea, motion, hearing, judgment, and later review events. |
| Hearing dates | Public scheduled-court information and event dates, subject to change and access limits. |
| Disposition and judgment | Guilty, dismissed, acquitted, diversion, amended, merged, or other recorded result and signed order. |
| Sentence and conditions | Custody, probation, diversion terms, fines, costs, and revocation activity where public. |
AOC court reports preserve the original charge and amendments. Read both beside the final disposition rather than treating the first allegation as the judgment.
Older Estill Criminal Case Files
Older Estill County criminal records can leave the active courthouse shelf. The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives inventory lists criminal indexes on microfilm from 1888 through 1976. It also lists case-file runs that include criminal material for 1893 through 1898, 1905 through 1957, and 1975 through 1977, plus criminal order books. Those ranges are not one continuous promise of a complete file for every year.
Start with the Estill clerk. If the record moved to a facility, obtain the precise file locator. The State Records Center cannot search those court files by a person's name or Social Security number. With the clerk's locator, a requester can contact the Center at state.records@ky.gov or 502-564-3617. An index entry is only a path to the case and does not replace the pleadings or order book.
Kentucky's official court-record request page explains the clerk and archive route.
The request path works best after the Estill clerk supplies the file locator that an archive facility needs.
Stages of a Criminal Case
An Estill County case may begin with a citation, complaint, or arrest and a District Court entry. Arraignment occurs at the next county docket; Kentucky has no single generic 24-hour or 48-hour arraignment promise. A felony can proceed through a probable-cause hearing or waiver, then grand-jury review. A true bill creates the indictment that moves the prosecution into Circuit Court. A no true bill or dismissal leads elsewhere in the record.
Circuit proceedings can include arraignment, discovery, motions, status conferences, plea negotiations, diversion, or trial. Judgment and sentence follow a final guilty result. An appeal, revocation, post-judgment motion, or expungement can add later events. Dates vary by the actual docket, so no local timeline should be invented.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
Note: A docket event marks process, while the signed order states what the Estill County court actually decided.
Estill Criminal Case Diversion Route
The 23rd Judicial Circuit publishes a Class D Felony Pre-Trial Diversion Protocol for Estill, Lee, and Owsley Counties. Diversion postpones imposition of sentence for up to five years while the person follows court conditions. The protocol addresses Class D eligibility, bars tied to recent felony conviction or supervision history, a guilty or Alford plea, statutory exclusions, and a limit of one diversion in five years.
An eligible person must petition with notice to the Commonwealth's Attorney at least 14 days before trial. The protocol excludes offenses covered by KRS 532.045 and felony DUI. Filing a petition does not promise acceptance. The court applies the current protocol and law to the specific Estill County case. A successful diversion may affect later dismissal and expungement steps, but those results must appear in the actual docket and orders.
Because diversion postpones sentence, the word should not be read as either an immediate conviction sentence or an automatic acquittal. Review the plea, diversion order, compliance events, and final disposition together.
Access & Restrictions
Public Estill County court records remain subject to confidentiality and redaction rules. Juvenile cases, protected identifiers, sealed matters, expunged cases, and confidential mental-health or domestic-violence case types may be absent from a public report. Victim and witness details can be protected. A CourtNet search with no result does not prove that an event never occurred or that an older file was destroyed.
The clerk can explain whether a public file exists and how to request it, but cannot release material barred by law or court order. Court records follow Kentucky judiciary access procedures, not merely the executive-branch Open Records Act form. A reader who needs a certified Estill County document should ask the clerk for the current copy charge, certification charge, accepted identification, and delivery method before paying. No official Estill-specific copy schedule was verified.
Access point: The clerk-held file controls when Guest CourtNet and an Estill County signed order differ or the online summary lacks a needed document.
Estill Criminal Case Counsel Offices
Kentucky divides prosecution by court level. Commonwealth's Attorney Beverly Brewer serves the 23rd Judicial Circuit from 116 Main Street, Irvine, KY 40336, at 606-726-0127. That office prosecutes Circuit felony matters. Estill County Attorney Rodney Davis works from 200 Main Street and prosecutes District Court matters. A prosecutor's file is not the same as the public clerk file, and no local conviction-integrity unit, complaint form, or expungement clinic was found in official sources.
The Kentucky Attorney General directory is the official source for Commonwealth's Attorney contacts.
The directory helps identify the Circuit prosecutor, but filed charges and court rulings remain in the Estill clerk's case record.
The DPA Stanton Trial Office serves Estill at 452 Washington Street, Stanton, KY 40380-0725, with phone 833-895-0582. Calling does not itself create an appointment. A person unable to pay and charged with an offense that can bring jail or a fine of at least $500 must ask the judge for appointed counsel and complete the Affidavit of Indigency through the court process.