Search Walthall County Circuit Court Cases

Walthall County Circuit Court Overview

The Circuit Court is Mississippi's primary trial court for the most serious matters. In Walthall County it handles felony criminal prosecutions, larger civil lawsuits, and appeals that come up from Justice Court, Municipal Court, and certain administrative boards. Felony cases often begin with an arrest, a first appearance, and a bond or preliminary hearing in a lower court, then move to Circuit Court after a grand jury indictment or a prosecutor's information. Civil suits over contracts, injuries, and property disputes that exceed the limits of the lower courts are filed and tried here as well.

Walthall County Circuit Court is part of the 14th Circuit District, which also covers Lincoln and Pike Counties. The county courthouse sits at 200 Ball Avenue in Tylertown, the county seat, and that building serves as the practical records counter for Circuit Court filings. The Circuit Clerk, Dan "Nut" Hawn, keeps the felony and civil case files, jury records, and marriage licenses. Circuit Court is distinct from Chancery Court, which handles divorce, probate, and land matters in a separate track under the 4th Chancery District.

Courts and Offices Serving Walthall County

Mississippi does not number its trial courts the way some states do. Instead, Walthall County is served by several courts and offices, each with its own subject matter. The table below lists the courts that touch local cases, where they sit, how to reach them, and what they handle. Use it to send a record request or a filing to the right place the first time.

The Municipal Court phone is shared with the Justice Court and county clerk channels, so callers should name the city case clearly. The Drug Court is a regional problem-solving program rather than a walk-in records counter. For older or sealed Youth Court and chancery matters, the Chancery Clerk line is the correct starting point.

Walthall County Circuit Court vs Chancery and Justice Court

Three courts handle most local disputes, and they rarely overlap. Circuit Court is the law court for felonies and big civil suits. Chancery Court is the equity court for family, estate, and land matters. Justice Court is the small-claims and minor-criminal court. The comparison below shows how the three differ on case types, jurisdiction, the clerk who keeps the file, and where each is filed.

Walthall County has no separate County Court. In counties without one, some functions that a County Court would handle, including certain Youth Court matters, fall to a chancery judge or an appointed referee. Small civil claims of $3,500 or less stay in Justice Court, while larger civil cases belong in Circuit Court. A divorce never goes to Circuit Court, and a felony never goes to Chancery Court, so matching the case to the court is the first step in finding a record.

Note: Civil cases worth more than the Justice Court limit and all felony prosecutions are tried in Circuit Court rather than in the lower courts.

How a Case Moves Through the Walthall County Court System

A case can start in a lower court and climb toward the state's highest court. Most felonies begin with an arrest and an initial appearance in Justice or Municipal Court, where a judge sets bond and may hold a preliminary hearing. After a grand jury indictment or a prosecutor's information, the case moves to Circuit Court for arraignment, pretrial motions, trial, and sentencing. Minor cases decided in Justice or Municipal Court can be appealed to Circuit Court for a fresh trial. Decisions from Circuit Court can then be appealed into the state appellate system.

Case flow: Justice or Municipal Court › Circuit Court › Court of Appeals › Mississippi Supreme Court

Criminal flow: Arrest › First Appearance › Indictment or Information › Arraignment › Pretrial › Trial › Sentencing › Appeal

Civil flow: Complaint Filed › Answer › Discovery › Motions › Trial › Judgment › Appeal

The Mississippi Supreme Court is the court of last resort, and it assigns many cases to the Court of Appeals to correct legal errors. The Supreme Court keeps direct control over categories such as constitutional challenges, death penalty cases, election contests, utility rates, and disciplinary matters involving attorneys and judges. Most routine appeals from a Walthall County Circuit Court judgment are reviewed for error first. The county court dockets and filings that feed this process are kept by the local clerks at each level.

Civil and Criminal Divisions of Walthall County Circuit Court

Circuit Court work splits into a criminal side and a civil side, though one judge can hear both. On the criminal side, the District Attorney for the 14th Judicial District prosecutes felonies, presents cases to the grand jury, negotiates pleas, and appears at sentencing. The current District Attorney is Brendon Adams, whose Pike and Walthall office is in Magnolia, Mississippi, a separate town from Magnolia Avenue in Tylertown. Charges filed by the prosecutor are not always the same as the charges listed at arrest, because cases can be indicted, reduced, dismissed, or diverted as they move forward.

On the civil side, Circuit Court hears lawsuits over contracts, personal injury, property, and damages above the lower-court limits, plus appeals brought up from Justice and Municipal Court. A new civil lawsuit filing in the county runs $160, and a writ of garnishment filing runs $35. Both sides of the court produce records the public can request, including indictments, plea entries, motions, orders, verdicts, sentencing orders, and judgments. The full set of charges, pleas, and outcomes lives in the county criminal court records maintained by the Circuit Clerk.

Jury Trials in Walthall County Circuit Court

Serious disputes in Circuit Court are often decided by a jury. The county court-system materials state that Circuit Court trials are heard with a 12-member jury, usually with one or two alternate jurors in case a seated juror cannot finish. A judge may decide a matter without a jury when the dispute turns on a question of law rather than a question of fact. Jurors are drawn from the community and summoned through the Circuit Clerk's office.

Jury service logistics such as juror pay, reporting times, parking, and assembly-room instructions are not published in the county materials. Anyone summoned should follow the instructions printed on the summons and call the Circuit Clerk at 601-876-5677 with questions. Because the county is rural and many residents drive a long way to Tylertown, confirming a reporting time by phone before traveling is sensible.

Note: Circuit Court juries seat 12 members plus one or two alternates, while a judge alone may rule when the case presents only a legal question.

Appeals Above Walthall County Circuit Court

Two courts sit above the Circuit Court in Mississippi. The Mississippi Supreme Court is the highest state court, and the Court of Appeals handles cases the Supreme Court assigns to it. The Court of Appeals began hearing cases in 1995 and works mainly as an error-correction court, reviewing trial-level rulings for legal mistakes. Decisions from Circuit Court, Chancery Court, County Courts where they exist, and the Court of Appeals may all be appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court keeps certain cases for itself rather than sending them down. Those include annexations, bond issues, constitutional challenges, death penalty cases, attorney and judicial discipline, election contests, certified questions from federal court, utility rates, and issues of first impression or broad public interest. For most Walthall County litigants, an appeal from a Circuit Court judgment is reviewed for error before any further step, and the briefs and orders in that appeal become part of the appellate record.

Lower Courts Below Walthall County Circuit Court

Several lower courts feed into and sit alongside the Circuit Court. Justice Court, at 807 Magnolia Avenue in Tylertown, handles small claims of $3,500 or less, misdemeanor criminal cases, traffic offenses outside city limits, bond hearings, preliminary felony hearings, and search warrants. Its phone is 601-876-2311. Tylertown Municipal Court handles city ordinance violations, municipal misdemeanors, city traffic tickets, initial appearances, bond hearings, and preliminary hearings within the town limits. Bench warrants from Municipal Court may not appear in county Circuit Court records.

Chancery Court runs parallel to Circuit Court rather than below it, handling divorce, custody, adoption, guardianship, sanity hearings, wills, estates, and land records under Chancery Clerk Shannon Fortinberry at 601-876-3553. Youth Court handles juvenile abuse, neglect, and delinquency with restricted public access. The 14th Circuit Drug Court, established February 1, 1999, serves Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall Counties and supervises drug and alcohol offenders through treatment, testing, and frequent court appearances; in 2024 it marked 25 years as the state's oldest adult felony drug court. To match a record to the right counter, start with the case type, then call the office that keeps it, and confirm whether a plain or certified copy is needed.

Federal Courts Covering Walthall County

Some cases involving Walthall County residents are heard in federal court instead of the county Circuit Court. The county lies within the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Its home page describes the court's locations, judges, and resources for federal civil and criminal matters.

Federal cases are entirely separate from Walthall County Circuit Court files, covering federal crimes, federal-question and diversity civil suits, civil rights claims, and habeas petitions. To learn which federal division covers the county, the Southern District publishes its divisional county listings, which place Walthall in the Eastern Division at Hattiesburg.

The Eastern Division courthouse is the William M. Colmer Federal Building and United States Courthouse at 701 North Main Street in Hattiesburg. The district also maintains offices in Jackson, Gulfport, and Natchez, all shown on its court locations page for visitors planning a trip.

Appeals from the Southern District do not go to the state Supreme Court but to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. That court reviews federal trial decisions for the region that includes Mississippi, so a federal case touching Walthall County could reach the Fifth Circuit on appeal.

Federal dockets and documents are searched through PACER and the district's electronic case-filing system, which are distinct from the local Circuit Clerk's counter. Anyone unsure whether a matter is a state or federal case should confirm the court before requesting a file.

Walthall County Circuit Clerk Office

The Circuit Clerk is the keeper of Circuit Court records and the practical place to start a record request. No free, county-specific online search of Circuit Court criminal and civil files was located, so the clerk's counter, phone, and mail channels are the main way to reach felony case files, civil suits, indictments, dispositions, sentencing orders, jury records, and appeals from the lower courts. The office also issues marriage licenses and handles voter and absentee-voting functions, so its role reaches beyond court cases.

When requesting a record by phone or mail, give the party or defendant name, the case number if known, an approximate filing date, the record type, and whether a plain or certified copy is needed. Mississippi's Public Records Act supports inspection and copying of public records unless a statute, court rule, or order makes a file confidential, and agencies may charge reasonable fees for searching and copying. For docket entries and case-status questions, the county court dockets page outlines how filings are tracked. Sealed, expunged, juvenile, adoption, and mental-health records are not ordinary public records, so confirm access with the clerk before relying on a search result.