Criminal Cases in the Juneau County Courts
Juneau County Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction trial court for Wisconsin felony and misdemeanor prosecutions filed here. Felonies use the CF case code, while criminal misdemeanors use CM. Both types are handled in the county's two circuit branches. Municipal courts are different. The Mauston Area Municipal Court and the Regional Center Municipal Court hear ordinance and traffic matters, not state criminal charges. A reader who searches only a municipal citation file can therefore miss the related Juneau County criminal case.
The Juneau County Clerk of Circuit Court is the custodian of the official court file. WCCA, also called CCAP by many Wisconsin users, republishes public docket data from the statewide case-management system. It is a useful index, but it is not the filed complaint, order, judgment, exhibit, or transcript. Those records remain with the clerk or court reporter. The Juneau County clerk page leads to court-record requests, office contacts, and the public route into county court services.
That source matters when the online docket is not enough and a filed document or certified copy is needed.
Juneau's Two Criminal Court Branches
Both Juneau County circuit branches sit in the John Pier Roemer Justice Center at 200 Oak Street in Mauston. Branch 1 is assigned to Judge Paul S. Curran, and Branch 2 is assigned to Judge Stacy A. Smith in the current county directory. Judicial assignments and calendars can change, so the branch shown on the case detail should control. The branch field helps a reader find the right calendar, courtroom, and responsible official without assuming that every criminal case follows the same schedule.
The Juneau County circuit judges page is the live source for branch contacts.
Use it with the branch value in WCCA before calling about a hearing, deadline, or courtroom assignment.
How to Search Case Records
Start with free Wisconsin Circuit Court Access. It requires acceptance of a public-use agreement and CAPTCHA, but no account. Search results can change as Juneau County staff add filings and outcomes. A case number is the cleanest key. For a name search, add Juneau County and use the date of birth or middle name when known. Review the caption and filing date before opening a result with a common name.
- Accept the WCCA agreement and open the circuit court search.
- Select Juneau County, then enter a case number or party name.
- Use date of birth, middle name, year, or case type to narrow a broad result.
- Open the case and read each charge, event, plea, disposition, sentence, and balance in context.
- Ask the Juneau County clerk for the actual pleading, judgment, transcript, exhibit, or certified copy.
The WCCA screen below is the official public search interface for Juneau County criminal case records.
Its county filter is vital because an all-county search can mix people and cases from elsewhere in Wisconsin.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| County | Dropdown | No | Select Juneau to reduce cross-county matches. |
| Case number | Text | Conditional | Use year, CF or CM code, and sequence. |
| First and last name | Text | Conditional | Party search; middle name may narrow the result. |
| Date of birth | Date | No | Strong identifier; results may also show DOB sealed. |
| Missing DOB or middle name | Checkbox | No | Broadens the match when those fields are absent. |
| Advanced filters | Mixed | No | Includes DA case, citation, agency, dates, status, and case type. |
Reading Juneau Criminal Case Codes
A Juneau County case number combines its filing year, a two-letter code, and a sequence. CF marks a felony file. CM marks a criminal misdemeanor file. Wisconsin felony classes run from A through I, while misdemeanor classes run from A through C; the charge row can show the severity and class. Municipal ordinance violations remain outside those state-crime classes. The case code identifies the type, not the result. A pending case has not reached a final outcome. A disposed case has an outcome, but disposed does not mean convicted. Each count may end in conviction, dismissal, acquittal, amendment, or another result.
Read the charge and sentence history at count level. The original charge shows where the prosecution began. Later entries show amendments, pleas, findings, and sentence terms. A cash or signature bond describes pretrial release conditions, not guilt. Likewise, a financial balance shows court obligations but does not prove current custody. These distinctions prevent a short docket label from being turned into a claim the Juneau County court record does not support.
- Disposition
- The outcome of the case or one charge count.
- Arraignment
- The hearing where the defendant responds to the filed charge.
- Dismissal
- A charge ended without a conviction on that count.
- Sentence
- The consequence ordered after a conviction and judgment.
What the Case File Shows
A WCCA detail page can identify the Juneau County branch, caption, case number, filing date, case type, status, and District Attorney case number. It may then list the parties and lawyers, public identity fields, each charge and statute, court events, bond, future activity, sentence, and financial obligations. A charge-history control helps trace amendments. The filed case file adds the complaint, motions, orders, judgment, and other documents that the web view does not publish.
Identity and event fields must be read with care. A JUSTIS or fingerprint ID can help cross-reference a state record, while an alias or sealed birth date calls for more verification. Attorney entered and withdrawn dates show representation changes. They do not decide the charge. WCCA also does not provide the public PDF of every pleading or order listed in its event history.
| Case Number & Court | Filing year, CF or CM code, sequence, county, branch, status, and filing date. |
|---|---|
| Charging Record | Count, statute, description, severity, prosecuting agency, and DA case number. |
| Parties & Counsel | Public defendant fields, State as plaintiff, prosecutor, defense counsel, and attorney dates. |
| Docket Events | Hearings, motions, orders, responsible official, and future court activity. |
| Disposition & Judgment | Plea, count-level outcome, judgment, and charge or sentence history. |
| Sentence & Financials | Ordered terms, assessments, payments, balance, and other public obligations. |
| Restricted Fields | Victim, witness, juror, protected identifier, sealed, and confidential material is omitted. |
Missing Juneau Case Records
A missing WCCA result is not proof that no Juneau County case exists. Try a different spelling, the case number, the missing-middle-name option, and the missing-date-of-birth option. Check whether the matter was a municipal ordinance citation instead of a CF or CM case. Recent filings may not yet be visible. Older files, confidential matters, sealed cases, and expunged records can also fall outside the ordinary web view.
When those checks fail, contact Clerk Alecia M. Kast in Room 2230 at the John Pier Roemer Justice Center, call 608-847-9356, or email juneau.clerk@wicourts.gov. State the known case number, party name, filing period, and record sought. Ask for a current estimate before ordering plain or certified copies because an official Juneau-specific fee schedule was not located in the research. The clerk, not a paid removal vendor, can explain the available court-record channel.
The Juneau County District Attorney page shows the separate prosecution office connected to filed criminal cases.
The prosecutor's working file and the clerk's court file are related, but they are not the same public record product.
Stages of a Criminal Case
A Juneau County prosecution may start with an arrest or summons, followed by an initial appearance and a criminal complaint. A felony can include a preliminary hearing before an information and arraignment. Both felony and misdemeanor cases may then move through motions and pretrial work before a plea or trial. Judgment and sentencing follow a conviction, while a dismissal or acquittal ends a count without a conviction. An appeal can create a separate appellate record.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
WCCA's event list is a timeline of entries, not a set of the underlying papers. A hearing label may show that something occurred without revealing the testimony, motion, or signed order. Compare the event date with the charge and disposition panels, then request the source document from the Juneau County clerk when its exact wording matters. The Juneau County Sheriff's Office keeps its own arrest reports, and the county jail keeps booking records. Neither is the Circuit Court case file. Appeals move to the separate WSCCA appellate search available through the Wisconsin court system's case-search route.
Federal Criminal Cases From Juneau County
Federal prosecutions tied to Juneau County do not appear as county CF or CM files. They are handled by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison. PACER is the official account-based federal docket system. It charges per page under its current schedule, while public courthouse terminals provide another official access channel. Federal custody is also separate from the Juneau County jail and Wisconsin DOC systems.
A PACER search will not replace WCCA for a state prosecution filed in Juneau County Circuit Court.
The Western District of Wisconsin publishes current court contacts, notices, and access information.
This separate route explains why a county-only search can miss a federal docket connected to the same area.
Access & Restrictions
Wisconsin Public Records Law begins with a strong policy favoring access, but court access remains record-specific. WCCA excludes Social Security numbers, payment-card data, protected identity fields, victim and citizen-witness identifiers, and juror names. Juvenile records are not released like ordinary adult criminal cases. A statute, court rule, or sealing order can make a case or document confidential. Date of birth may appear only as “Date of Birth Sealed.”
WCCA is therefore a public information view, while the Juneau County clerk holds the official court record. Even at the counter, protected parts can be redacted or withheld. Wisconsin law also permits narrow adult expungement under Wis. Stat. § 973.015, generally when eligibility rules were met and expungement was ordered at sentencing. An expunged circuit record does not automatically erase a sheriff report, prosecutor record, or Wisconsin DOJ fingerprint-supported history.
Juneau Criminal Case Technology
Juneau County hosted Wisconsin's Seventh Judicial District clerks in March 2026 for work on filing, jury reports, budgets, bond hearings, and CCAP financial training. The group also toured a courtroom updated with new technology. That local milestone helps explain why the public docket, courtroom operation, and clerk counter work as linked parts of one system rather than as interchangeable sources.
Electronic entries can make a hearing or financial event visible quickly, yet the clerk still controls the underlying Juneau County criminal case record. Technology improves routing and public indexing. It does not turn WCCA into a document repository, remove lawful redactions, or guarantee that a newly filed or restricted matter will appear in an ordinary web search.