Court filings for Knox County cases live in two places: the statewide MyCase portal, which publishes docket entries for the Knox County Circuit Court and Knox County Superior Court, and the physical case files held by the Knox County Clerk of the Courts at the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes. Booking records originate with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, reachable through Knox County Sheriff; the Knox County Jail handles custody and can be reached at (812) 886-4094. Records-request fees and Clerk office hours are confirmed on the Clerk’s department page — check before visiting.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Knox County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
Searching for records beyond Indiana
Knox County’s official portals cover cases filed in Indiana courts, but arrests in other states or federal jurisdictions won’t appear there. A nationwide search may surface records from prior states of residence, name variants, or cases predating the online window — gaps that local portals often leave. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.
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How to look up arrest records in Knox County
“Records that have been expunged under Indiana law will not appear in standard public searches” — that caveat applies to every pathway described here, and if expungement is your goal, the process is covered in the How to expunge an arrest record in Knox County section below.
For most records-checkers, the MyCase portal is the fastest online option. Enter a name or case number, select Knox County, and the system returns docket entries for the Knox County Circuit Court, Knox County Superior Court, Knox County Magistrate Court, and Knox County Drug Court. MyCase shows case numbers, charge descriptions, hearing dates, and dispositions for cases in the public index. It does not show sealed or expunged cases, and it does not replace the physical case file held by the Clerk.
The Indiana Judicial Branch: Knox County court directory page lists all Knox County courts with contact information and links to e-filing resources. Knox County Courts support e-filing through the Indiana Judicial Branch, so attorneys and self-represented litigants can submit documents without visiting the courthouse.
For the physical case file — certified copies, exhibits, or anything not visible in MyCase — contact the Knox County Clerk of the Courts directly. The Clerk’s office is located at the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes. Records-request fees and current weekday hours are posted on the Clerk’s department page; confirm before driving. Certified copies typically carry a per-page fee set by Indiana statute — ask the Clerk to confirm the current amount.
Booking records and jail-side information come from the Knox County Sheriff. The Sheriff’s Office handles arrest bookings, and the Knox County Jail at (812) 886-4094 can confirm whether a person is currently in custody. Booking photos are generally public records under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act (Ind. Code § 5-14-3), but the Sheriff’s Office controls release — call to confirm the current policy for photo requests.
For arrests made by the Vincennes City Police Department, contact the department directly at (812) 882-1502. The administrative office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM CST, and is closed on weekends and holidays. Arrests by Indiana State Police or Indiana Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement — both of which dispatch through Knox County Central Dispatch at 133 N 8th Street, Vincennes — will generate court records accessible through MyCase but may require separate records requests to the arresting agency.
For people who have served a sentence and are now in Indiana Department of Correction custody or supervision, the IDOC offender search covers state-level incarceration. Knox County Community Corrections, reachable through the Knox County Community Corrections department page, handles local supervision programs separate from IDOC.
Are Knox County arrest records public?
Does an arrest in Knox County automatically become a public record? Generally, yes — with narrow exceptions that matter a great deal in specific cases.
Indiana’s open-records framework, codified at Ind. Code § 5-14-3, makes booking records and court filings public by default. That includes the arrest date, the arresting agency, the charges filed, and the booking photo. Anyone can request these records from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office or the Knox County Clerk of the Courts without stating a reason.
Sealed and expunged records are the primary exception. Once a Knox County court grants an expungement petition under Indiana’s Second Chance Law, the record disappears from public searches — MyCase will not return it, and the Clerk cannot disclose it to the public. Law enforcement agencies retain access, but the general public does not. The expungement process is covered in detail in the section below.
Juvenile records carry their own protection. Arrests of minors are not part of the public index in the same way adult records are. Access to juvenile case files requires a court order in most circumstances.
Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases — addresses, contact information, and identifying details for protected witnesses or victims may be withheld from the public copy of a record even when the underlying case is otherwise public. The Clerk applies these redactions before releasing copies.
Pending charges that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal remain in the public index until expunged. Indiana law provides an automatic expungement path for dismissals and acquittals, but “automatic” means the order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after the court issues it — the record stays visible until that process completes. If you are checking a name and see a dismissed case, that case may still be eligible for expungement even if it has not yet been removed.
What’s in a Knox County arrest record?
A Knox County arrest record pulls from two separate systems, and the fields visible in each differ in ways that matter when you’re trying to reconstruct a case timeline.
The booking entry — created by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office at the time of arrest — typically contains the arrestee’s name, date of birth, booking date and time, the charges as written by the arresting officer, the arresting agency (Sheriff, Vincennes City Police, Indiana State Police, or another agency dispatched through Knox County Central Dispatch), and the booking photo. The Knox County Jail can confirm current custody status at (812) 886-4094. For the Knox County Jail’s mugshot release policy, call the Sheriff’s Office — the policy isn’t posted in a publicly accessible online document.
The court-side docket entry — visible in MyCase for Knox County cases — contains the case number, the formal charges as filed by the prosecutor, the attorney of record (defense and prosecution), all scheduled and completed hearing dates, sentencing dates, and the disposition. Probation terms, when ordered, appear as part of the sentencing entry in the docket. These fields are what you see at the Knox County Courthouse in the physical file held by the Knox County Clerk of the Courts.
Hearing dates in the docket reflect every scheduled court appearance: initial hearing, bond hearing, pretrial conference, and trial date if the case went that far. Sentencing dates are recorded separately from hearing dates — a case may show multiple hearing entries before a single sentencing entry appears. Probation terms are listed in the sentencing order and may include length, conditions, and the supervising agency, which in Knox County is often Knox County Community Corrections for locally supervised cases.
One practical gap: the booking entry and the court docket are not always synchronized in real time. A charge may be amended or dropped by the prosecutor after booking, so the charge description in the Sheriff’s booking record may differ from the charge in the court file. Always check both systems if you need an accurate picture of what was actually prosecuted.
Federal cases — arrests made by federal agencies and prosecuted in U.S. District Court — do not appear in MyCase or the Knox County Clerk’s records at all. Those records live in the federal PACER system and require a separate search.
How to expunge an arrest record in Knox County
Indiana’s Second Chance Law gives eligible people a clear statutory path to seal their Knox County arrest record from public view — and the waiting periods are specific enough that timing the petition correctly matters.
The controlling statute is Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Indiana “Second Chance Law”). It creates a tiered system based on the outcome of the case and the severity of the offense. Each tier has its own eligibility window, and Indiana allows effectively one expungement petition per lifetime in a given county — all petitions in Knox County must be filed together in a single proceeding.
Arrests that did not result in a conviction are the most straightforward. A person arrested but never convicted may petition to expunge the arrest record one year after the arrest date. Dismissals and acquittals are handled by automatic expungement order, but that order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after it is issued — the record remains visible during that window.
Misdemeanor convictions become eligible five years after the conviction date, provided the person has no other convictions in the interim and has satisfied all terms of the sentence. The court must grant the petition if eligibility requirements are met.
A Class D felony or Level 6 felony conviction — the least serious felony tier in Indiana — becomes eligible eight years after the conviction date. The court must grant this petition as well, assuming eligibility.
More serious felony convictions require waiting the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. The court has discretion on whether to grant these petitions. The most serious felonies — including violent offenses, sex offenses, and official-misconduct offenses — require the prosecutor’s written consent in addition to the waiting period, and the court may still deny the petition. Sex offenses, violent offenses, and official-misconduct offenses are excluded from expungement entirely under the statute.
To petition in Knox County, file a verified petition in the court where the conviction occurred — or, for non-conviction records, in the court of the county of arrest. The Knox County Circuit Court handles these filings; the Knox County Clerk of the Courts can confirm the current filing fee and whether an indigency waiver is available. Indiana law provides a fee waiver path for petitioners who cannot afford the filing cost — ask the Clerk about the process.
Self-petitioning is legally permitted. The Indiana Judicial Branch publishes self-help resources, and the Indiana Public Defender Council at Indiana Public Defender Council can help identify whether free or low-cost legal assistance is available. Attorney-assisted petitions reduce the risk of timing errors — given the one-petition-per-lifetime rule, getting the eligibility window right before filing is worth the extra step. You can search for licensed Indiana attorneys at Indiana Roll of Attorneys.
After expungement is granted, the Knox County record is sealed from public access. Law enforcement agencies and certain licensing boards retain the ability to see the sealed record, but it will not appear in MyCase, will not be disclosed by the Clerk to the public, and will not surface in standard background searches of Indiana court records. Confirm the current statute text or ask the Clerk of Court before filing — the Second Chance Law has been amended since its original enactment.
Knox County arrest records — quick reference
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase — Indiana courts portal | Case numbers, charges, hearing dates, sentencing dates, dispositions, attorney of record for Knox County courts | Sealed or expunged cases; booking-side details; federal cases | Search by name or case number; select Knox County |
| Knox County Clerk of the Courts | Certified copies of court filings, physical case file contents, filing fee amounts | Booking records; current custody status; expunged records | Visit the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes during weekday business hours; confirm hours before visiting |
| Knox County Sheriff 📞 (812) 886-4094 |
Booking records, current jail custody status, booking photo availability | Court dispositions; cases handled by other agencies | Call Knox County Jail or visit the Sheriff’s website |
| Vincennes City Police Department 📞 (812) 882-1502 |
Arrests made by Vincennes City Police; incident reports | Sheriff or state police arrests; court outcomes | Call Mon–Fri, 8:00 AM–4:00 PM CST; closed weekends and holidays |
| Indiana Department of Correction offender search | Current IDOC custody or supervision status for state-sentenced individuals | County jail holds; cases not resulting in IDOC sentence | Search by name on the IDOC offender lookup |
| Knox County Community Corrections | Local supervision programs, community corrections placements | Court records; IDOC-supervised individuals | Visit the Knox County Community Corrections department page |
Sources verified 2026-07-26:
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Knox County — Knox County court directory, e-filing access, and MyCase links for Circuit, Superior, Magistrate, and Drug Court.
- Indiana MyCase docket search — statewide case search portal covering Knox County docket entries and dispositions.
- Knox County Clerk of the Courts — physical case files, certified copies, and records-request procedures.
- Knox County Sheriff — booking records, jail custody, and law enforcement records for Knox County.
- Knox County Community Corrections — local supervision programs and jail-adjacent detention information.
- Knox County Central Dispatch — dispatches for Knox County Sheriff, Vincennes City Police, Indiana State Police, and Indiana DNR Law Enforcement in Knox County; located at 133 N 8th Street, Vincennes, IN 47591.
- Indiana Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement — state law enforcement agency dispatched through Knox County Central Dispatch.
- Indiana Department of Correction offender search — state-level custody and supervision lookup.
- Knox County Circuit Court — general jurisdiction trial court where expungement petitions are filed.
- Indiana Roll of Attorneys — licensed Indiana attorney search for expungement and records-sealing assistance.
Errors or outdated information? Submit a correction — we review and update within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions about Knox County arrest records
What charges appear on a Knox County arrest record, and where do I find them?
A Knox County arrest record contains the charges as written by the arresting officer at booking — these appear in the Sheriff’s booking entry and may differ from the charges formally filed by the prosecutor in court. The court-filed charges, along with any amendments, dismissals, or plea agreements, appear in the case docket on MyCase. For certified copies of the charging document itself, contact the Knox County Clerk of the Courts at the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes. If the case was expunged, neither the booking entry nor the court record will appear in public searches.
What happens next after an arrest record is expunged in Knox County?
Once a Knox County court grants an expungement petition under Ind. Code § 35-38-9, the record is sealed from public access. MyCase will no longer return the case in a public search, and the Knox County Clerk of the Courts cannot disclose it to the general public. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records. The order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after it is issued for automatic expungements (dismissals and acquittals); petition-based expungements take effect when the court signs the order. Because Indiana allows effectively one expungement petition per lifetime in a given county, confirm your eligibility window with the Clerk or a licensed attorney before filing — the Indiana Public Defender Council can help identify low-cost legal assistance.
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