Arapahoe County Court Records
Arapahoe County court records are legal documents that courts create during a legal proceeding. Section 3.03 of the Chief Justice Directive 5-01 defines a court record as a document containing paper or electronic data held by a court, a Clerk of Court, a probation department, or in the Department's Court Records Management System (CMS) that relates to a court case, a defendant or a probationer. The custodian of court records in Arapahoe County, Colorado, is the County Clerk.
Court records are used for conducting legal research, tracking the progress of a case, preparing for a trial, and appealing a verdict. They serve as a source of historical and legal evidence, which helps to ensure transparency and accountability within the legal system. Hence, these records are deemed a part of Arapahoe County Public Records and are disseminated to interested and eligible persons upon request.
Are Court Records Public in Arapahoe County?
Yes. According to Article 72 of the Colorado Open Documents Act (CORA), Arapahoe County court documents are public records and should be made available to the public. The Chief Justice Directive (CJD) 05-01 and the Supreme Court Rule on Public Access to Information and Records (PAIRR) direct that court records be made open to the public for examination at reasonable times. While court records are generally available to the public for inspection, sealed court records, suppressed court records, protected court records, and restricted court records are not readily accessible by the public. Section 3.07 of the CJD 5-01 defines these categories of records:
- Sealed court records: These records are open to only judges, court staff, and other authorized department staff. Other personnel must obtain a court order to access these records.
- Suppressed court records: These records are accessible only to judges, court staff, parties to the case (and, if represented, their attorneys), or other authorized Department staff. Any other person seeking access to a suppressed court record must obtain a court order.
- Protected court record: The term "protected court record" refers to any court document that is only made available to the public after it has been redactable per relevant federal law, state law, court regulations, or court orders and under the provisions of the Chief Justice Directive (CJD) 5-01 Policy. Before the redaction of a protected court document, it is only accessible to the judge, court personnel, parties, their attorneys, or any other authorized personnel of the Department.
- Restricted court record: This refers to a criminal case that contains information on a sexual assault or a child victim charge, as defined in sections 24-72-304(4) and 24-72-304(4.5) of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Before removing the victim's identifying information from the record, a restricted court record is only accessible to the judge, the court, the parties (and, where applicable, their attorneys), other authorized officials of the Colorado Department of Corrections, and any criminal justice agency.
Additionally, a court record will not be available to the public if a federal statute or regulation, state statute, court rule, court order, or CJD policy prohibits the disclosure of such information. Court records on adoption, dependency and neglect, judicial bypass, juvenile delinquency, mental health, paternity, probated protected proceedings, relinquishment, and truancy are only accessible to the public under a court order or if permitted under section 4.40(f) of the CJD 5-01.
What Do Arapahoe County Court Records Contain?
The nature of information found in a court record varies depending on the case type. Court records in Arapahoe County typically contain the following information:
- Party name
- Case number
- Case type
- Date of birth
- Index
- Calendar
- Docket
- Register of actions
- Certified transcript
- Orders
- Decrees
- Judgments
- Audio and video recordings
Information found in a court record in the county is not limited to and may contain only some of the information listed here.
Where to Conduct an Arapahoe County Case Lookup
Individuals can conduct an Arapahoe County Case look up at the following record custodian offices:
How to Conduct an Arapahoe County Case Records Search
Interested parties can visit the court during operational hours or contact the court via phone or email to retrieve court records. Once contact is established, the Clerk of Court receives and reviews the request and discloses the processing fee to view or copy the record. The Clerk reserves the right to deny access to certain documents or parts of a record by authority granted in the Colorado Revised Statutes/Rules, Supreme Court Rules, Chief Justice Directives, and local administrative orders/directives. Suppressed cases, juvenile and probate records, or certain documents with protected information may require a US government-issued photo ID. Requesters may also mail a record request form to the respective court. A response should be expected between 3 and 5 days of making the request.
Alternatively, individuals can access court records online through the Arapahoe County Docket Search portal or approved third-party vendors. A search via these platforms can be conducted by the party's name or case number. Access to court records comes at varied fees dictated by the respective vendor. Court records that can be accessed through these vendors include civil, civil water, small claims, domestic, felony, misdemeanor, and traffic cases. While locating a court record on commercial websites is possible, the only way to obtain a copy is to visit the court where the matter was heard.
Arapahoe County Civil Court Case Records
Arapahoe County civil court case records are legal records of judicial proceedings of a case heard in a civil court. Cases typically heard in a civil court include disagreements between parties, family issues, personal loans, landlord-tenant disputes, personal injury due to the defending party's negligence, contract disputes, defamation, and property disputes.
Civil court case records in Arapahoe County are kept in the custody of the Clerk of Court. Individuals seeking a civil court record must contact the court where the case was heard. This request could be made by physically visiting the court or mailing in a record request form. Obtaining a civil court record from the court costs a fee usually determined by the nature of the desired record. These records may also be accessed via third-party websites approved by the Colorado Judicial Branch.
Arapahoe County Criminal Court Case Records
A criminal court case record documents legal proceedings involving criminal offenses. These records are generated from criminal cases heard in the Arapahoe County Justice Center. These cases include assault, battery, rape, theft, murder, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud. The Clerk of Court is responsible for maintaining and granting the public access to criminal court case records. A copy of this record can be obtained by contacting the court physically or sending in a request form by mail. After the relevant fees have been paid, the Clerk of Court researches, redacts, and makes a copy of the record. Individuals can search criminal court case records through commercial websites that have access to these records.
How to Get Court Records Online for Free
The Colorado Judicial Branch provides an Arapahoe County Docket search tool, which is freely open to the public. The docket search enables the public to get certain information about a case, like the hearing date, len, appearance (in person, virtual, or telephone), hearing type, case number, location, and division. A search can be performed using the court in which the case was heard, the division, date range, case number, party last name or company name, party first name, or attorney bar number. It is necessary to note that the docket search contains only one week of data.
Courts in Arapahoe County
Arapahoe County has three courthouses. The addresses of the courthouses are listed below.
Arapahoe County Justice Center
7325 S. Potomac Street
Centennial, CO 80112
Phone: (303) 645-6600
Email: arapahoejury@judicial.state.co.us
Arapahoe County Courthouse - Littleton
1790 West Littleton Blvd
Littleton, CO 80120
Phone: (303) 645-6600
Arapahoe County Courthouse - Aurora
15400 E. 14th Place
Aurora, CO 80011
Phone: (303) 645-6773
Email: charla.branham@judicial.state.co.us
