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ABOUT CourtSearch.com

CourtSearch.com provides the legal community with the highest quality legal research, including Instant Access to North Carolina Criminal, Civil & DMV records. When you're connected to CourtSearch.com you are directly connected to every courthouse in the state.

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Researching North Carolina criminal and civil records through CourtSearch.Com allows you the same access as that given on the clerk's workstation terminals located in courthouses throughout the state. These terminals are linked to the mainframe computer maintained by the Administrative Offices of the Court (AOC). Records begin with information entered by the local court clerks at their work station terminals and are updated throughout any given day. The records are entered in a standard form by the clerks. There are numerous standard abbreviations used by all these clerks to denote pleas, case status and the like. There are also fields or areas on the standard form where clerks make notes in a narrative style to record specific orders by a judge hearing a particular case. Since criminal records retrieved through CourtSearch.Com come to you exactly as they would appear at the courthouse, we would like to explain what some of these abbreviations are and generally assist you in reading criminal records.

Just click on the highlighted areas of this sample file for an explanation of the various fields. Each record you retrieve through CourtSearch.Com will have the same hyper-links and will lead you to the proper field explanation. Once you click an area, the appropriate explanation will appear at the top of the page.

 910 WAKE                      ICA INQUIRY 01  98CR 123456 FILM:
DISPOSED                      R  S DOB/AGE      CR     FILING DATE: 050198
 CITATION                      W  M 11271970 DL#:
SMITH,JOHN,P                                                 CITA.#: C8410000

1234 S. NORTH ST                                 TRIAL DATE: 050798  PM
RALEIGH          NC  27591            DEF ATTY:              TYP: R
CHG/ARRN OFFN: M POSSESS MARIJUANA UP TO ½ OZ          90-95(D)(4)
 COMPLAINANT: SMITH,MARY,J                   CPD ISSUED: 050198   SERVED: 050198
OFFN DATE: 050198    ARRN DATE:         MOTIONS DATE:       DISP DATE: 050798
 CONT. D: 00 S: 00 C: 00 NR: 00


PLEA VERDICT MOD   FINE    COSTS     REST      JUDGE MONIES-PD  TO-BE-PAID
  GU   GU     JU    $       $         $
CONV OFFN: M  POSSESS MARIJUANA UP TO ½ OZ    90-95(D)(4)
SENT LEN: 2Y      -        SENT TYPE: C             CONS F/JGMT:

PROB: 5Y                        WITHDRAWN:          APPEALED TO SUPERIOR:
 AREA CD:    ACCD: N HWY:         V LIC:              TRANS TO SUPERIOR:
 CDL: N  CMV: N  HAZ: N   TRP/DIST:    V ST:     V TYP:      APPELLATE:
PROBATION TERMINATED SUCCESSFULLY

Identifiers and case numbers
A clerk enters information on his or her work terminal from a variety of documents, such as arrest warrants, traffic tickets and police reports. A case number is assigned, the defendants name is entered along with any identifiers, such as race, date of birth, drivers license number or address, that appear on the documents. Sometimes, there are few identifiers and these fields are left blank. Cases with the notation CR, such as 99CR1234, are cases heard in district court. Cases noted as IF, such as 99IF1234, are generally minor traffic infractions. Cases with the notation CRS, such as 99CRS1234, are cases heard in superior court. Cases can be bound over to superior court from district court. Generally, these are more serious cases, such as felony. In these cases, 99CR1234 becomes 99CRS1234. (Note: The CourtSearch.Com search will direct you to both the CRS and the CR cases in these instances.)

Case Disposition
As cases progress through the court, the case disposition is noted by the clerk. For example, the case could be DISPOSED and over with, or PENDING action, such as awaiting a trial date. If the person was called for trial and failed to appear an OFA, Order For Arrest, will be noted. The individual may have been charged with a crime but the police were unsuccessful in serving the warrant, noted by WARRANT RETURNED UNSERVED, or RTNUNSVD, meaning warrant returned unserved.

Trial Dates
The clerk will enter a trial date as the case is called for the court calendar.

Charged Offense / Convicted Offense
An original charge is entered following an arrest or traffic violation and after a warrant for arrest has been issued. The designations F,M,T,IF will appear in this field for Felony, Misdemeanor, Traffic or Infraction. Following the charge is a number referring to what statute violation is involved in this particular case. The convicted offense may be different from the original charge. For example, a person may be charged with Felony Possession of a Controlled Substance. At trial, this could be reduced to a Misdemeanor.

Offense / Disposition Dates
The clerk will note the date of the offense .When and if the case is settled, the clerk notes the disposition date.

Plea and Verdict Codes
Standard abbreviations are used for the pleas and verdicts and are as follows: Plea and Verdict Table

Method of Disposition
The method of disposition (MOD) refers to how a case was disposed. For example, if a jury heard a particular case, it would be given the designation JR. If a case were dismissed by the judge or district attorney, it would be given the designation VD for Voluntary Dismissal.. The following is a full list of the abbreviations used by the clerks: MOD Table

Fines and Costs
Fines, costs and any restitution paid as part of a conviction are entered here.

Sentence Information
If an active sentence is given, it is noted here. A sentence of 24 days is denoted as 24D, 24 months as 24M and 24 years as 24Y. A life sentence is denoted by the letter L.

Case Consolidation
Sometimes cases are consolidated for sentencing. The case number for consolidation is entered here. This will be a case number from the same county as the record in question.

Probation Information
Probation is listed here and, like sentencing, is given in Days, Months and Years. The type of probation is also noted as either Supervised or UN-supervised.

Case Appealed
Cases that result in conviction at the district court level are appealed. The results of the appeal are given in the CRS version of the same case number. For example, if case # 97 CR 123 is appealed to superior court, it will then carry the case number 97 CRS 123.

Clerk's Notes
The clerk enters notes here that reflect a variety of possible actions taken in a particular case. Specific orders by the judge hearing the case are given here. For example, a judge may impose specific conditions for probation or conditions under which a sentence will be served. There are few specific abbreviations used here by the clerks entering the information. The notes are helpful, though, especially in helping us track the progress of a case through the judicial process.