Marion County and Mycase

As a practicing attorney, you no doubt have used Mycase, the online public court records website. It is the best tool, by far, for appellate and post-conviction practice. But due to cause number quirks in Marion County, using Mycase to find old cases can cause some frustration.

In general, when a criminal defendant files a petition for post-conviction relief to challenge a conviction, courts in Indiana open a new PC cause for the petition. Those cases are considered civil in nature, and they can be found on Mycase by limiting the search to “civil” cases. If you limit the cases to “criminal,” however, they will not appear.

Years ago, however, in Marion County when a defendant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, rather than assign a new PC cause number Marion County simply changed the criminal designation of the cause number (CF, AF, etc.) to “PC.” This has caused some confusion now, though, when someone tries to find a defendant’s old criminal case.

If the practitioner limits the search of a defendant’s name to just “criminal,” it will appear as if there is no criminal case in Marion County for that defendant. Consequently, if looking for older criminal cases in Marion County be sure to search both “criminal” and “civil” cases to ensure you find the case.

One other Marion County quirk that just recently arose: many of the criminal courts in Marion County have received new court numbers, which required a change in the cause number. So when searching for newer causes, be aware of this recent change.