Licking County Clerk of Courts: Records, Case Search and Bond

Two clerks, two sets of records

Olivia Parkinson, the Licking County Clerk of Courts, runs the Common Pleas office. The municipal court has its own clerk. If the case is a misdemeanor or traffic charge, our municipal court case search guide is the page you want. The rest of this page covers the Common Pleas clerk.

The three divisions of the Common Pleas clerk

The Licking County Clerk of Courts works out of three divisions, each in its own building:

• General Division, in the main courthouse on the square. It handles civil and criminal cases, tax liens, judgments and civil anti-stalking orders. Its Legal Division (civil and criminal) is at 1 Courthouse Square, Newark, OH 43055, phone (740) 670-5791, fax (740) 670-5886.
• Domestic Division, at 75 E. Main Street in Newark. It handles divorce, dissolution, custody, paternity, child support, civil protection orders and filings for the Court of Appeals.
• Title Division, with offices at 877 E. Main Street in Newark, 316 Township Road in Pataskala and 12938 Worthington Road in New Albany. These offices handle vehicle titles and watercraft registration, not court cases.

For anything tied to a criminal charge or a bond, the Legal Division at the courthouse is the right office.

How to search a Common Pleas case online

The clerk's Common Pleas Case Records Search covers the General Division and the Domestic Relations Division, plus cases filed in the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Appellate District.

To find a felony case:

1. Open the case records search from the clerk's page or the link above.
2. Search by the defendant's name, or by case number if you have it. Felony numbers on the Sheriff's inmate list usually show a CR in the middle, such as 26CR followed by a number.
3. Open the case and read the docket, which lists filings and court entries in date order.

If a recent arrest does not show yet, the case may still be in its early stage. Felony arrests can sit on the inmate list as "await CPC indictment" before the Common Pleas case is fully built out.

What the online record leaves out

Online access is not the whole file. The clerk notes that some case types are not viewable on its website, including civil protection orders, stalking protection orders and miscellaneous docket cases.

Older files are another gap. The county's Records and Archives Center holds clerk case files from before 1992, and the center says certified or recent copies come from the originating office. If you need a certified copy of an order, ask the Legal Division in person or by phone.

What a case record shows about bond

When you open a felony case, look for the entries that set or change bond. Common ones:

• The bond order. The amount and type the court set, such as cash/surety or cash/surety with a 10% deposit option.
• Posting. An entry showing bond was posted, and in what form.
• Changes. A bond modification, a revocation or new conditions after a hearing.
• Warrants or capias. An entry ordering the person brought in, often after a missed date.

The record tells you what the court ordered. It will not tell you whether a holder from another county is keeping the person in jail; check the inmate list for that. Our felony arraignment and bond guide explains what happens at the hearings these entries come from.

Warrant checks through the clerk

A felony warrant or capias is entered in the Common Pleas case, so the case search can show whether one was issued in a known case. It cannot show warrants from other courts or agencies. One side note from the clerk's own page: skipping jury duty does not lead to a Sheriff's warrant. Our warrant bonds page covers what to do when a warrant does exist.

Paying the clerk

The Common Pleas clerk takes some payments online through its Court Fees and Payments link, and also in person or by mail. Before paying any bond at the clerk's window, confirm the amount, the accepted forms of payment and whether the court allows the type you plan to use. A 10% cash deposit under R.C. 2937.011(C)(2) is paid to the court, which returns 90% of it when all bond conditions are met. That is a different payment from a surety bond premium paid to a bail agent.

When to call instead of searching

Records searches answer "what did the court order." They do not tell you how to post a bond after hours or what a surety bond would involve. Call when:

• the record shows a bond and the clerk's office is closed
• the bond is large enough that a full cash posting is not realistic
• there are several cases and you are not sure which bond applies to which