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How to read records from the Los AngelesSuperior Court

Learn to decipher the case printout from LA

Written By: Joshua Kim

How to read records from the Los Angeles Superior Court Draft: 2012-08-21Guide ID: 2 -

This document was generated on 2019-09-17 06:20:10 PM (MST).

© 2019 reentrylegalclinic.dozuki.com/ of 12

INTRODUCTION

The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, maintains detailed criminal caseinformation from its many courthouses and makes it available in different formats.

The LAeCourtOnline website provides only bare minimum of information, including only the name ofthe case, case number, charges, and disposition, along with disposition dates. It contains even lessinformation than a DOJ rap sheet, as it's missing sentencing information.

Detailed information is available via an in-person request at the court for a printout from the court'sTrial Court Information System (TCIS), commonly-referred to as a "case docket." The printout has allthe information disclosed on the LAeCourtOnline website plus sentencing and post-sentencinginformation--pretty much all the information necessary to fill out a dismissal petition.

The printout can be difficult to read. Hopefully this how-to helps.




https://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/onlineservices/laecourtonline.htm

Step 1 — How to read records from the Los Angeles Superior Court

In California, the law contemplates 3 major types of court records: index (Gov't C. § 69842);register of actions (§ 69845); and case docket. In order to properly fill out a petition for dismissal,an index record is insufficient. You should instead get a copy of register of actions or casedocket on the particular case to be dismissed.

There are several ways of obtaining a register of actions or case docket from a superior court inLos Angeles County. The most effective way is to walk in to a criminal clerk's office and askfor a printout of case docket under your name and date of birth.

If you cannot pay 50 cents per page, ask for a fee waiver. You qualify for a fee-waiver if you'rereceiving Medi-Cal, Food Stamps (CalFresh), SSI, SSP, General Relief, IHSS, CalWORKs,and/or CAPI. (Note that unemployment insurance or Section 8 doesn't count.)




Step 2

Case docket printouts from the LosAngeles Superior Court are inchwide and mile deep. They onlyhave information on one case each,but they (are supposed to) havecomprehensive information aboutwhat the court did in that case fromthe filing of an initial accusatorypleading to the conclusion of thatcase.

To compare what a DOJ rapsheet would show in comparison,check out Step 2 in the guide on"How to Read a DOJ rap sheet."

The image shows the very firstpage of a case docket from the LosAngeles Superior Court.

Red box: The top of the pageshows which court the actiontook place. On this case, it wasat the Municipal Court of CentralArraignment Courthouse. You willnotice that the name of the courtis somewhat abbreviated.

Blue box: Here is probably themost important piece ofinformation about this case, thecase number. It has beenredacted to protect the subject'sprivacy, but you can see it reads9CR***.




https://reentrylegalclinic.dozuki.com/Guide/How+to+read+a+DOJ+rap+sheet/1

Green box: And the name of thedefendant. Note that this may notbe the defendant's true name. It'sjust the name that the case wasprosecuted under. Note also thatthis person is DEFENDANT 01.The full case number includes thedefendant number, so this case'sfull number would be 9CR***-01.

Orange box: The arrestingagency, which is usually theLAPD (Los Angeles PoliceDepartment), or LASD (LosAngeles Sheriff's Department).

Yellow box This is thedescription of the initialcharging document, e.g.misdemeanor complaint, felonyinformation, or indictment. Thisperson was charged with 4counts. It remains to be seen howmany of them she was convictedof.




Step 3

A case docket printout from the Los Angeles Superior Court starts off with information about theinitial charge. The rest is a series of summary description of each proceeding held in thecase, separated by a few blank lines.

Each entry subsequent to the initial charge will start off with the date, time, and location of thecourtroom where the proceeding took place; the purpose of the proceeding; and the parties inattendance.

On July 8, 1999 at 8:30am, in Division 81 of Central Arraignment Courthouse, the case wascalled for arraignment.

An arraignment is the first time a defendant appears before the court, and the defendant pleadsguilty, not guilty, no contest, etc.

For the purpose of this arraignment proceeding, the judge was Commissioner Kirkland Nyby;the clerk, Martha Rico; the reporter, electronic recording (i.e. tape recorded); and theprosecutor/City Attorney ("CA"), Bryan K. Bowers.

CA stands for City Attorney. CP stands for City Prosecutor. DA stands for District Attorney. AndDDA stands for Deputy District Attorney.

On both images, the blue box shows that each entry--including the initial charge information--always ends with the next scheduled event. Unless something unexpected happens, thisshould always line up with the first line of the next entry.




A common "unexpected event" occurs when the court issues a bench warrant because thedefendant doesn't show up for a scheduled hearing. Pay attention to these bench warrants. Fora defendant on probation, they can result in a probation violation. Note that probationrevocation doesn't automatically result in probation violation.

Step 4

To fill out a petition for dismissal, weneed to extract the followinginformation from the case docket:case number, defendant's name,date of conviction, the court ofconviction, prosecuting agency,offense(s) convicted, sentencegiven, and probation result (ifprobation was granted).

Another way to think about thesepieces of information is to categorizethem in 3 groups: (1)IDENTIFICATION information, (2)CONVICTION information, and (3)SENTENCING information.

IDENTIFICATION informationincludes: case number anddefendant's name. We alreadycovered these.

CONVICTION informationincludes: the date of conviction,the court of conviction,prosecuting agency, andoffenses convicted. We willcover these next.

Finally, we will coverSENTENCING information, whichincludes: sentence given andprobation result.




Step 5

For our purpose, conviction occurs when the defendant is found guilty and sentenced. In short,the date of conviction is the date of sentencing .

On a Los Angeles case docket printout, the sentencing starts with the words " AS TO COUNT(XX)". In Los Angeles, this usually happens on the same day that the court finds the defendantguilty and enters disposition of "CONVICTED," but conviction and sentencing often occur ondifferent dates elsewhere.

The date of conviction, i.e. sentencing, and the court of conviction is found at the beginningof this entry, as you can see. The case was initially called for arraignment on 07/09/1999 inCENTRAL ARRAIGN CTHOUSE.

Make sure which attorney prosecuted the case. It's not important who Mr. Bryan K. Bowers is.What's important is that he's a CA, City Attorney. You can turn to the very first page and seewhich agency effected the arrest in this case. The City Attorney is from the same city.

It's a bit more complicated to extract the accurate information as to which offense(s) the personwas convicted of. DISPOSITION of each COUNT is easy to see. COUNT (01) is the only one toresult in DISPOSITION: CONVICTED, while COUNT (02)-(04) are dismissed.

To verify that what offense was alleged in COUNT (01), go back to the first page ( the secondimage). You see that COUNT 01 was 242-243(E) PC MISD. That is, Penal Code (PC) section242-243(e), charged as a misdemeanor.

Watch out for additional counts being added on (" by interlineation") after the initial charge hasbeen filed.




Step 6

Let's look at sentencing informationin more detail.

Immediately following "AS TOCOUNT (XX)" is the sentence itself.There are three (3) options here, twoof which end up in probation.

(1) The court does not give out orimpose any sentence. So"IMPOSITION OF SENTENCE(is) SUSPENDED," and probationis granted. That's what happenedin this case.

(2) The court imposes a sentencebut suspends its execution--andprobation is granted. You will see"SERVE XXX YEARS IN ANYSTATE PRISON" and"EXECUTION OF SENTENCE(is) SUSPENDED," if that's thecase.

(3) Or the court can simplysentence the defendant to a termof incarceration, a fine, or both. Inother words, sentence is imposedand executed. Ergo, no probation.You may even see "COURTORDERS PROBATION DENIED"thrown in for good measure.




Step 7

To figure out whether the defendant successfully completed all terms and conditions of probation(or the sentence itself), it's obviously necessary to know what those terms and conditions were tobegin with.

In this case, the court granted SUMMARY PROBATION for A PERIOD OF 024 MONTHS. And theprobation included THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS .

Three (3) days in county jail . Since this defendant had already spent 3 days or more in countyjail waiting for this arraignment hearing, this is time served, i.e. no actual jail time is given.

Payment of $77.75 in attorney fees (to the public defender's office).

Restitution fine of $100.

Note that the court set a hearing date for proof of payment of this restitution fine on11/5/1999.

And other standard terms and conditions, including OBEY ALL LAWS AND FURTHERORDERS OF THE COURT.

There is no record of the defendant's compliance with the above terms and conditions ofprobation--except that she did not file her proof of restitution payment by the date set by thecourt. So it went to a collection agency. And, yes, this is a probation violation. More on thatnext.




Step 8

So what is a probation violation? It'sthe probationer's failure to complywith some term or condition ofprobation. And the vast majority ofthem can be identified in one ofthree (3) ways.

The first way to identify a probationviolation was covered in theprevious step: failure to pay therequired fine before the due date.(If no due date is given, it must bepaid before the end of the probationperiod.)

Another common probation violationoccurs when the probationercommits another criminal offenseduring the period of probation.Recall that OBEY ALL LAWS is astandard probation condition.

Finally, look for this line in the courtrecord: THE COURT FINDSDEFENDANT IN VIOLATION OFPROBATION.

To be absolutely clear,revocation of probation alonedoes not make a probationviolation--until the court stateson the record it is!




As you see in the sample image,probation can be revoked,modified, and reinstated withoutthe court ever finding that theprobationer was in violation ofprobation. This isn't a violation.




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