Winston County Circuit Court Overview
Many people search for a Winston County district court, but Mississippi does not use that label at the county level. The state splits its trial courts by subject matter instead. The Circuit Court is the general trial court for felony criminal prosecutions, civil lawsuits at law, and appeals brought up from Justice Court and Louisville Municipal Court. It is the court where the most serious local cases are tried.
Winston County Circuit Court belongs to the Fifth Circuit Court District. The free Mississippi Electronic Courts information page lists the court at 113 West Main Street, Louisville, MS 39339, with phone 662-773-3581, the same number as the Circuit Clerk who keeps its records. The Circuit Clerk's mailing address is P.O. Box 785, Louisville, MS 39339. Winston County Circuit Court went live in Mississippi Electronic Courts on March 22, 2021, which is why newer filings appear in that statewide system while older files remain with the clerk.
Note: The Circuit Court holds two regular trial terms a year in Winston County, the fourth week of April and the fourth week of October, though filings and copies are handled year round.
Winston County Courts and Offices
Because the record you want depends on the court that handles it, the table below lists the main Winston County courts and related offices with their locations and phone numbers. Circuit and Chancery are the two trial courts of record, Justice and Municipal are the lower courts, and the Sheriff and the regional facility handle law enforcement and custody.
| Court or Office | Handles | Location | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winston County Circuit Court (Fifth Circuit District) | Felony criminal, civil at law, appeals from lower courts, judgments | 113 W Main Street, Louisville; Circuit Clerk P.O. Box 785 | 662-773-3581 |
| Winston County Chancery Court (Sixth Chancery District) | Divorce, probate, equity, guardianships, land records and court docket | 115 S Court Ave per MEC; Chancery Clerk 154 South Court Ave | 662-773-3631 |
| Winston County Justice Court | Civil up to $3,500, evictions, replevin, garnishments, state and county traffic, affidavit charges, temporary protective orders | Courthouse basement, 16540 Main St; mail P.O. Box 327 | 662-773-6016 |
| Louisville Municipal Court | City misdemeanors, ordinances, municipal traffic, initial appearances, bond and preliminary hearings | City of Louisville Municipal Court | 662-773-2500 |
| Winston County Sheriff's Office | Law enforcement records, arrests, warrants, jail routing | 136 South Court Avenue, Louisville | 662-773-5881 |
| Winston-Choctaw County Regional Correctional Facility | Regional facility for county and state inmates | 22062 MS Hwy 25 North, Louisville | 662-773-2528 |
The Fifth Circuit District and Winston County
Winston County does not have a circuit court that serves only its own residents. It is grouped with neighboring counties into a single judicial district whose judges rotate among the member counties. For Circuit Court purposes, that district is the Fifth Circuit Court District.
The Fifth Circuit Court District information page lists Circuit Court locations for Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Montgomery, Webster, and Winston counties. A felony indictment or a lower court appeal in Winston County is filed and tried within this district, with the Winston County Circuit Clerk holding the local records. Chancery Court follows a different map: Winston County sits in the Sixth Chancery Court District, grouped with Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Kemper, and Neshoba counties. That split matters, because a divorce or estate is not researched through the same district or clerk as a felony case.
Circuit Court vs Chancery Court vs Justice and Municipal Court
Mississippi's four local courts divide work by subject and severity. The comparison below shows where each kind of case belongs, which clerk keeps the file, and how the courts connect through appeals. Use it to decide which office to contact before you start a record search.
| Circuit Court | Chancery Court | Justice / Municipal Court | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main case types | Felony crimes, civil lawsuits at law, lower court appeals | Divorce, custody, adoption, probate, guardianship, land and equity | Small civil, citations, ordinances, misdemeanors, affidavit charges |
| Civil dollar range | No statutory cap on civil at law | Equity matters, no fixed dollar cap | Justice Court civil up to $3,500; Municipal is criminal and ordinance only |
| Criminal level | Felonies | None | Misdemeanors, city ordinances, and preliminary matters |
| Record clerk | Circuit Clerk | Chancery Clerk | Justice Court Clerk or Municipal Court Clerk |
| Appeals | Hears appeals from Justice and Municipal; appeals up to state courts | Appeals up to state courts | Appealed up to Circuit Court |
How a Case Moves Through the Winston County System
A case does not stay in one court forever. Lower court matters can climb to the Circuit Court, and trial court judgments can be reviewed by the state appellate courts. The flow below traces the usual path for a case that is appealed all the way up.
Appeal path: Justice Court or Louisville Municipal Court › Winston County Circuit Court › Mississippi Court of Appeals › Mississippi Supreme Court
Most cases stop well short of the top. A misdemeanor citation or a small civil claim is decided in Justice Court or Municipal Court, and a person who loses there can appeal to Circuit Court for a fresh look. Felony cases begin in Circuit Court after a grand jury indictment. Once the Circuit Court or Chancery Court enters a final judgment, the losing side may ask the Mississippi appellate system to review it. The Mississippi Supreme Court is the court of last resort, and the Mississippi Court of Appeals is the intermediate court that hears many cases first.
The day to day docket entries, hearing settings, and status flags for these cases are explained on the Winston County court dockets page, which breaks down the codes the electronic system uses.
Appeals to the Mississippi Appellate Courts
Appeals from Winston County Circuit Court and Chancery Court move into the statewide appellate system rather than to another local court. The Mississippi Court of Appeals is the intermediate court, and the Mississippi Supreme Court is the highest state court and the court of last resort. The Supreme Court can assign cases to the Court of Appeals and can later review its decisions.
An appeal is not a new trial. The appellate court reviews the record for legal error rather than hearing witnesses again. Lower court appeals are different: a Justice Court or Municipal Court decision that is appealed to Circuit Court generally gets a fresh hearing there. Federal questions and federal crimes do not enter this state ladder at all, since they belong to a separate federal system covered in the next section.
Federal Courts and the Winston County Distinction
Not every case from Winston County belongs to a state court. Federal crimes, federal civil rights suits, federal question cases, and matters removed from state court are handled by the federal judiciary. Winston County falls within the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, and federal statute 28 U.S.C. 104 places the county in that district's Aberdeen Division. The federal district keeps courthouses in Aberdeen, Greenville, and Oxford.
The official home for the federal trial court is published online. You can review the court's services and locations on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi site, which serves Winston County and many neighboring counties.
That site is the federal counterpart to the Winston County Circuit Court, but the two systems do not share records, and a federal case will not appear in the local clerk's files.
Federal case records are not searched through any Winston County clerk. The district court explains how to pull federal dockets on its Northern District case information page, which points researchers to the national PACER system and the PACER Case Locator.
The case information page is the right starting point when an arrest in Winston County turns into a federal prosecution rather than a Circuit Court indictment.
Bankruptcy is its own federal track. Filings from Winston County run through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, which handles Chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 petitions and related matters. The court's site sits at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Mississippi portal.
A bankruptcy is separate from a Chancery Court probate even when both involve debts, property, or an estate, so do not look for it in the county land or estate books.
Federal dockets across district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts are gathered in one paid public system. Access runs through the PACER federal public access portal, where the national page sets a charge of ten cents per page subject to fee policies and quarterly thresholds.
PACER is the official source for federal filings, so it is where a Winston County federal case is confirmed rather than on a county website.
To reach the right federal court within PACER, the system offers a court lookup tool. The bankruptcy court for this area is found through the PACER lookup for Northern Mississippi Bankruptcy page, which routes users to the correct electronic filing system.
Using the lookup avoids landing in the wrong district, which is easy to do because Mississippi has both a Northern and a Southern federal district.
Finding Winston County Circuit Court Records
The Circuit Court tries cases, but the Circuit Clerk keeps the files and issues certified copies. For a felony case, a civil judgment, or a lower court appeal, the records live with that office in Louisville. Newer filings also appear in Mississippi Electronic Courts, while older or non digitized records are pulled by the clerk on request.
Anyone needing a certified copy, a record search, or help locating an older case file should start with the Winston County Circuit Clerk, which sets the fees and request steps for Circuit Court records. Justice Court and Municipal Court matters, by contrast, are handled by their own clerks, and chancery matters route to the Chancery Clerk.