Lincoln County Circuit Court Overview
Circuit Court is the general trial court of Mississippi. It carries original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters that are not assigned exclusively to another court, and most of its cases are heard by juries. In practice that means felony prosecutions, large civil suits for money or damages, and appeals that travel up from the county's lower courts. The Lincoln County Circuit Court sits in the historic courthouse in downtown Brookhaven, the county seat.
Lincoln County belongs to the 14th Circuit Court District, which it shares with Pike and Walthall counties. Two elected circuit judges preside over the district: the Honorable Michael M. Taylor and the Honorable David Strong. They rotate among the three counties to hold terms of court, so a Lincoln County felony or civil jury case may be set for a session weeks or months out. The court is a court of record, meaning a clerk keeps a permanent file of every pleading, order, and judgment.
The same downtown complex holds the offices that feed the court its work and store its records. The Circuit Clerk files the cases, the District Attorney prosecutes the felonies, and the Sheriff provides bailiffs and security for each session.
Criminal and Civil Work in Lincoln County Circuit Court
On the criminal side, the Lincoln County Circuit Court is where felonies are tried. A felony is a serious crime that can bring a prison sentence, and these cases reach the court by grand jury indictment after the District Attorney reviews them. The criminal file built here is the full case record. It can include the indictment, the arraignment or a waiver of it, bond orders, an omnibus order setting deadlines, plea papers, motions, the sentence, and the final judgment of conviction. That court file is far more complete than the brief charge line that first appears on the jail roster after an arrest.
The civil docket covers lawsuits that are not handed to another court. These run from contract disputes and personal-injury claims to property actions and collection cases. A civil file may hold the complaint, the summons, the answer, motions, orders, the judgment, and any writ or execution used to collect it. Circuit Court also enrolls judgments, which places a money judgment on the public record so it can attach to a debtor's property.
Jury trials are the heart of this court. Both felony defendants and many civil litigants have a right to have a jury, drawn from county residents, decide the facts. The Circuit Clerk draws and qualifies those juries.
Lincoln County Trial and Related Courts
The Circuit Court does not work alone. Lincoln County runs a cluster of courts, and each one handles a defined slice of cases. Sending a request to the right court is the single biggest time-saver when looking for a record. The table below lists the trial and related courts that serve the county, with the address, phone, presiding officials, and the type of matter each one decides.
| Court | Address | Phone / Fax | Judges | What it handles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th Circuit Court | 301 S First Street, Brookhaven, MS 39601 | 601-835-3435; fax 601-835-3482 | Hon. Michael M. Taylor; Hon. David Strong | Felony prosecutions, general civil cases not assigned elsewhere, jury trials, and appeals from Justice and Municipal courts. |
| 15th Chancery District Court | 301 S First Street, Brookhaven, MS 39602 | 601-835-3411; fax 601-835-3423 | Hon. Joseph Durr | Divorce, child custody, property division, adoption, alimony, estates, guardianships, land disputes, and commitments. |
| Justice Court | 308 S 2nd Street, Brookhaven, MS 39601 | 601-835-3475; fax 601-835-3494 | Hon. Ian Smith (Post 1); Hon. Roger Martin (Post 2) | Small civil suits, county and highway-patrol traffic, DUIs, misdemeanors, county ordinances, and initial felony appearances. |
| Youth Court | 301 S First Street, Brookhaven, MS 39601 | 601-835-3445 | Hon. Bradley R. Boerner | Delinquent children, children in need of supervision, and abuse or neglect matters; records are confidential. |
| Brookhaven Municipal Court | P.O. Box 560, Brookhaven, MS 39602 | 601-833-6262 or 601-835-3997; fax 601-833-4742 | Judge Louwlynn Vanzetta "Van" Williams | City ordinance violations, city traffic, and misdemeanors; court meets every Tuesday. |
Four of these courts share the 301 S First Street courthouse address. Only Justice Court sits a block away on S 2nd Street, and the Municipal Court runs out of city hall under a post office box.
Circuit Court vs Justice Court vs Municipal Court
The three criminal and civil courts most people confuse are Circuit, Justice, and Municipal Court. Each has a different ceiling on the cases it can decide. Circuit Court takes the most serious matters, Justice Court handles county-level small cases, and Municipal Court deals only with city violations inside Brookhaven. The comparison below lays out how their jurisdiction differs.
| Circuit Court | Justice Court | Municipal Court | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal reach | Felonies and indicted cases | Misdemeanors, DUIs, county ordinances | City ordinance and traffic misdemeanors |
| Civil reach | General civil, no fixed cap | Civil claims up to $3,500 | No general civil docket |
| Traffic | Felony traffic and appeals | Sheriff and highway-patrol tickets | Brookhaven city citations |
| Jury trials | Yes, most cases | Limited | No |
| Felony role | Trial and sentencing | Initial appearance and affidavit | Preliminary matters only |
The dividing line that matters most is the felony. A Justice Court judge can hold the first hearing on a felony and set bond, but only the Circuit Court can try it and impose a prison sentence. A Brookhaven police citation goes to Municipal Court, while a sheriff or highway-patrol ticket in the county goes to Justice Court.
How a Case Moves Through the Lincoln County System
A felony case rarely starts in Circuit Court. It usually climbs there from a lower court after an arrest. Lincoln County has a local detail that explains the path: all felony cases are first heard in Justice Court for an initial appearance and the filing of an affidavit, and Justice Court judges hold sessions at the jail three times each week so every arrested person gets that appearance within three days. From there the case moves up by indictment.
The criminal route through the county courts runs like this:
Criminal flow: Arrest › Justice Court initial appearance and affidavit › District Attorney review › Grand jury indictment › Circuit Court arraignment › Pretrial motions › Trial or plea › Sentencing › Appeal to the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court
Civil cases follow a quieter track. A party files a complaint with the Circuit Clerk, the other side answers, the parties exchange discovery, and the matter heads to a jury trial or settlement before a judgment is entered. Either side can then appeal.
Civil flow: Complaint filed › Answer › Discovery › Motions › Jury trial › Judgment › Appeal
Appeals do not stay in the county. Once the Circuit Court rules, the case can move into the Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals system, where the Supreme Court assigns many cases to the Court of Appeals.
The Lincoln County District Attorney
Felony cases in Circuit Court are prosecuted by the District Attorney for the 14th District, which covers the same three counties as the circuit: Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall. The District Attorney reviews cases bound over from Justice and Municipal courts, presents them to the grand jury, and tries the indicted felonies. The current District Attorney listed on the 2025 Mississippi Attorney General district map is Brendon Adams. Some older office web pages still carry the branding of former District Attorney Dewitt "Dee" Bates, so it is wise to confirm the current prosecutor by phone before relying on an older site.
The office keeps a Lincoln County base inside the courthouse and a second office for the southern counties. A look at the prosecution team gives a sense of how a felony file is staffed and who to ask about a pending case. The 14th District posts its attorneys and staff directory with prosecutor and contact details.
That staff page also lists victim-assistance workers, a Bad Check Unit, and a Pre-Trial Intervention Program, all of which tie into the criminal files moving through Lincoln County Circuit Court. The Brookhaven office is in Room 207 of the courthouse and can be reached at 601-833-3811, while the Magnolia office for Pike and Walthall counties answers at 601-783-6677.
Public Defender and Appointed Counsel in Lincoln County
A felony defendant who cannot afford a lawyer has a right to a court-appointed one. In Lincoln County that request runs through the Circuit Court itself. A defendant who wants appointed counsel should ask the judge or the clerk at the first appearance or arraignment, then complete two forms kept by the Circuit Clerk: an Affidavit of Indigency and an Application for Appointment of Counsel.
The Affidavit of Indigency is a sworn financial statement. It asks whether the defendant is employed, what they earn each week or month, whether they own a car or other property, their bank balances, and their family situation, all under a warning that a false statement is perjury. The judge uses it to decide whether the defendant qualifies for a free attorney. The forms live on the Circuit Clerk's online forms page, alongside waiver and arraignment papers.
Mississippi does not run a single statewide trial public defender for every county, but the Office of State Public Defender maintains a statewide directory. Anyone trying to identify the public defender assigned to a Lincoln County case can use the OSPD find a public defender directory as a starting point.
The OSPD also runs divisions for appeals, capital defense, family defense, and youth defense, so a defendant facing an appeal of a Lincoln County conviction may deal with a different unit than the one that handled the trial.
Lincoln County Circuit Drug Court
Not every felony defendant takes the standard trial path. The 14th Circuit District runs a drug court that gives eligible nonviolent defendants with substance-use problems a supervised alternative to prison. The program uses treatment, drug testing, regular court reviews, sanctions, and incentives, and it operates across the same Lincoln, Pike, and Walthall district served by the Circuit Court.
The drug court is the best-documented specialty court tied to Lincoln County. The Mississippi Judiciary reported that the 14th Circuit Drug Court marked its 25th year in 2024, a sign of how long the program has been a fixture of the district.
The program reaches into the custody record too. Local jail roster entries sometimes read "serving time for drug court violation," which shows that a person who fails the program can be jailed and that the specialty court and the criminal case stay linked. Current eligibility rules, fees, and phase details are not posted on a county page, so anyone considering the program should ask the Circuit Clerk or the Circuit Court directly.
Note: Lincoln County has no separately published veterans, mental health, or family treatment court page, so questions about other specialty programs route to the Circuit Court.
Federal Court for Lincoln County
Some cases never touch the county courthouse at all. Federal crimes, federal civil-rights claims, and other federal-question matters are handled by the United States District Court, not the Lincoln County Circuit Court. Lincoln County falls within the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
The Southern District divides its counties into divisions. Lincoln County sits in the Western Division, grouped with Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Pike, and Wilkinson counties. One quirk is that filings for the Western Division are mailed or delivered to the clerk's office in Jackson rather than a courthouse in Lincoln County. The court's divisional county listings confirm where the county belongs and where papers go.
Federal case files are kept in the federal PACER system, not in the county clerk's records. So a search for a state felony or civil judgment stays with the Circuit Clerk, while a federal matter is searched through the federal court, and the two record systems do not overlap.
Finding Lincoln County Circuit Court Records
Circuit Court civil, criminal, and judgment-roll cases are now filed through Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide e-filing system. The 14th Circuit information page lists the Lincoln County Circuit Court at 301 S First Street, Room 205, with a phone of 601-835-3435, hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and an MEC go-live date of February 22, 2021. Remote document viewing through MEC can require a registered account and a per-page fee, while public terminals at the courthouse let a visitor view filings without that viewing charge.
The Circuit Clerk's older Delta records landing page warns that online information may lag behind activity at the courthouse and that official courthouse records always control. For a current or certified copy, the clerk's counter in Room 205 is the authoritative source. Self-serve copies run $0.25 a page and staff-made copies $1.00 a page, and a name-based background check is $10.
For day-to-day case lookups, hearing schedules, and the broader picture of what the county keeps, the general Lincoln County court records guide and the hearing-calendar details on the court dockets page point to the right office for each record type.
Note: Lincoln County has no single free portal that searches every court level at once, so matching the record to the correct clerk or court is the fastest route to a copy.