Arrest Records for St. Martin Parish, Louisiana

Court filings and booking records for St. Martin Parish sit in two separate systems: the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court, which holds District Court case files at the St. Martin Parish Courthouse in St. Martinville, and the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office, located at 415 S Main St, St. Martinville, LA 70582, which maintains booking records and runs the parish jail. The Clerk’s office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the Sheriff’s Office operates 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. Online access to Clerk records is available through the Louisiana Clerks Remote Access subscription system. Parking near the courthouse is limited and actively enforced — a large lot is available at the facility, but plan to arrive early.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our St. Martin Parish inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If you need records outside St. Martin Parish

A nationwide criminal records search may surface records from other Louisiana parishes, neighboring states, or federal courts that St. Martin Parish portals don’t index. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account. This tool may help fill gaps that local portals often leave — particularly for name variants, prior addresses in other states, or cases predating the Clerk’s online window.

Sponsored: Nationwide Criminal Background Check (we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you).

This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.

How to look up arrest records in St. Martin Parish

Records from the past decade or more are the most reliably accessible — older St. Martin Parish cases may require an in-person request at the Clerk’s counter. The pathway you use depends on whether the case is still in the parish jail system, has moved through the District Court, or resulted in a state prison sentence.

St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court — District Court records. Felony and misdemeanor cases filed in the 16th Judicial District Court are maintained by the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court. Online access is available through the Louisiana Clerks Remote Access (LCRA) subscription system. For in-person requests, visit the Clerk’s office at the St. Martin Parish Courthouse, St. Martinville, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Clerk accepts cash, checks, credit/debit cards, and money orders; note that credit card payments carry a 4% convenience fee, and Apple Pay is not accepted. Call ahead at 337-394-2210 to confirm current fees and availability before driving in.

St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office — booking records. The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office maintains booking records for the parish jail. Arrest records from the Sheriff include the booking date, charges, and case number. The Sheriff’s Office is at 415 S Main St, St. Martinville, LA 70582, and is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Contact the Sheriff’s Office directly to ask about records-request procedures and any applicable fees — these details are not published online.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections — post-conviction transfers. When a St. Martin Parish defendant is sentenced to state prison, custody transfers from the parish jail to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The DOC’s inmate information lookup is the correct tool for locating anyone who has been transferred out of the parish system. The DOC’s facility locations directory lists every state correctional facility by parish, which is useful if you need to identify where a sentenced person is currently housed.

Louisiana State Police background checks. For a certified criminal history report — the kind used for professional licensing or court proceedings — the Louisiana State Police processes statewide background check requests. This is separate from a Clerk records search and covers convictions across all 64 parishes, not just St. Martin.

Practical note on online access. St. Martin Parish is not among the larger parishes (such as Orleans or East Baton Rouge) that offer a fully open public case-search portal. The LCRA subscription system is the primary online route; a new booking can take time to appear in any online system. If you need a record quickly and can’t reach it online, the Clerk’s counter at the St. Martin Parish Courthouse is the most direct option.

Are St. Martin Parish arrest records public?

44 sections of Louisiana’s public-records framework make the default answer clear: arrest records are open to the public. Under La. R.S. 44:1 and the statutes that follow it, any person may request access to public records held by a Louisiana government body, including the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Clerk of Court. The agency must respond promptly and may charge only the actual cost of reproduction.

Court filings in the 16th Judicial District Court — the trial court that handles St. Martin Parish felony and misdemeanor cases — are public records under the same law. Booking information held by the Sheriff’s Office, including the date and time of arrest and the charges filed, is similarly open. The Louisiana Public Records Law does not require you to state a reason for your request.

Sealed and expunged records are the primary exception. Once a court grants an expungement under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971, the record is removed from public view. The Clerk and the Sheriff are both required to treat it as though it does not exist for public-records purposes. Law enforcement agencies retain access, but a member of the public requesting the record will receive no result.

Juvenile records carry a separate protection. Cases adjudicated in juvenile court are confidential by statute and are not accessible through a standard public-records request. Adult records are not affected by this rule.

Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases. Identifying information for crime victims — particularly in sexual-assault and domestic-violence matters — may be redacted from otherwise public documents before release. The record itself remains accessible; only the protected fields are withheld.

Pending charges that were never prosecuted remain public until the prescriptive period runs. An arrest that did not result in charges, or where charges were refused by the District Attorney, is still a public record until it is expunged. The arrest happened; the public record reflects that fact until a court orders otherwise.

What’s in a St. Martin Parish arrest record?

“Arrest record” covers two distinct documents that live in different systems and show different fields — knowing which one you need saves a trip to the wrong office.

The Sheriff-side booking record is generated when a person is processed into the St. Martin Parish jail. It typically contains: the full legal name of the person arrested; date, time, and location of the arrest; the arresting agency (Sheriff’s Office, a municipal police department, or Louisiana State Police); the charge or charges at the time of booking, stated as statute citations and plain-language descriptions; bond amount set at booking; and the booking number assigned by the jail. Booking photos (mugshots) are taken at intake. For St. Martin Parish’s mugshot release policy, contact the Sheriff’s Office directly — the policy is not published online.

The Clerk-side docket record is created when the District Attorney files charges in the 16th Judicial District Court. It contains: the case number; the defendant’s name and date of birth; the formal charges as filed (which may differ from booking charges); all docket entries showing hearings, continuances, and rulings; the disposition — guilty plea, verdict, dismissal, or nolle prosequi — if the case has concluded; and the sentence, if one was imposed.

Defense attorney information appears in the docket, not in the booking record. Once counsel enrolls in the case, the attorney’s name and bar number are entered as a docket entry at the St. Martin County Courthouse. To find current counsel for an open case, pull the docket through the LCRA system or ask the Clerk’s counter staff for the most recent attorney-of-record entry. If the case is still active, the enrolled attorney’s name will appear on the most recent motion or hearing notice in the file. For cases where counsel has withdrawn or changed, the docket will show the sequence of enrollments and withdrawals in chronological order.

A few fields that records-checkers often expect to find are worth clarifying. The booking record shows charges at the time of arrest; those charges can be amended, reduced, or dropped entirely before trial. A disposition showing “nolle prosequi” or “dismissed” means the case did not result in a conviction — the arrest record still exists, but no conviction is attached to it. The docket is the authoritative source for what actually happened in court; the booking record only shows what was alleged at the time of arrest.

How to expunge an arrest record in St. Martin Parish

Petitioning to seal an arrest record in St. Martin Parish is a routine legal procedure, and the eligibility rules differ significantly depending on whether the case ended in a conviction.

Non-conviction cases — arrests that ended in dismissal, acquittal, or a refusal to prosecute by the District Attorney — are typically eligible for expungement without any waiting period under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971. An arrest that was simply never prosecuted carries a different rule: you must wait for the prescriptive period to run before filing. A DWI resolved through pretrial diversion is the one non-conviction that carries a hard wait of five years from the date of arrest before the petition can be filed.

Post-conviction cases require a waiting period measured from the completion of sentence, probation, or parole — not from the conviction date itself. The statute sets the wait at five years after a misdemeanor conviction and ten years after a felony conviction. A first marijuana-possession conviction is eligible after ninety days. Post-conviction expungement is discretionary: the court weighs the petition rather than granting it automatically, and the District Attorney has the opportunity to object.

Where to file. All expungement petitions in St. Martin Parish are filed with the Clerk of Court at the 16th Judicial District Court — the same office that holds the original case file. The petition must include a certified copy of the arrest record, a motion and order, and proof of service on the District Attorney and the arresting agency. Filing fees apply; ask the Clerk’s counter for the current fee schedule. If the fee creates a hardship, ask about an indigency waiver — the statute provides a path to waive the fee for qualifying petitioners.

Self-petition vs. attorney-assisted. Louisiana law does not require an attorney to file an expungement petition. Many people handle straightforward non-conviction expungements on their own using the forms available through the Clerk. More complex situations — felony convictions, cases with multiple charges, or cases where the DA is likely to object — benefit from legal help. The Louisiana State Bar Association attorney search can locate licensed attorneys in the Acadiana area. If cost is a barrier, the Louisiana Public Defender office may be able to assist with post-conviction matters.

What remains visible after sealing. An expunged record is removed from public view. The Clerk, the Sheriff, and the Louisiana State Police are all required to treat it as confidential for public-records purposes. Law enforcement agencies, however, retain access to expunged records for their own investigative and prosecutorial purposes. The record does not disappear from law enforcement databases — it is simply shielded from public disclosure.

Note on frequency limits. Louisiana law sets no cap on how many times a misdemeanor record may be expunged. The waiting period is the only timing rule for misdemeanor expungements. Two separate frequency limits apply to set-asides rather than expungements: a DWI may be dismissed under article 894 only once in a ten-year period, and an article 893 felony dismissal is available only twice in a person’s lifetime.

Quick-contacts for St. Martin Parish arrest records

Frequently asked questions about St. Martin Parish arrest records

What charges appear on a St. Martin Parish arrest record, and where do I find the current case status?

The booking record held by the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office shows the charges as they were stated at the time of arrest — these are the initial allegations, not the final outcome. Charges can be amended or dropped after booking. For the current case status, pull the docket from the 16th Judicial District Court through the Clerk of Court at the St. Martin Parish Courthouse (weekdays 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., phone 337-394-2210). The docket shows every filing, hearing, and ruling, including the disposition if the case has concluded. If the case resulted in a state prison sentence, the Louisiana DOC inmate information lookup will show current custody status.

How do I get a St. Martin Parish arrest record expunged?

File a Petition to Expunge with the Clerk of Court at the 16th Judicial District Court, St. Martin Parish Courthouse. Eligibility depends on how the case ended. An arrest that resulted in dismissal, acquittal, or a refusal to prosecute is typically eligible without a waiting period under La. Code Crim. Proc. art. 971. A misdemeanor conviction requires a five-year wait after completing the sentence, probation, or parole; a felony conviction requires ten years. The petition must be served on the District Attorney and the arresting agency. Filing fees apply — ask the Clerk about the current fee and whether an indigency waiver is available. For complex cases or situations where the DA may object, the Louisiana State Bar Association attorney search can connect you with a licensed attorney in the area.