• Houston County Circuit Clerk, Houston County Courthouse, 114 N. Oates St., Dothan, main line (334) 677-4800; circuit criminal (334) 677-4858; district criminal (334) 677-4869
• District Attorney, 20th Judicial Circuit, Dothan, (334) 677-4894
• Houston County Sheriff's Office, 411 N. Foster St., Dothan, (334) 677-4882
• Houston County Jail, Dothan, (334) 677-4888
• Dothan Police Department (runs the city jail), 210 N. St. Andrews St., Dothan, (334) 615-3000
• Juvenile clerk and intake, Room 105 of the courthouse, (334) 677-4880

Which court hears your case. Dothan officers file city ordinance violations and many misdemeanors in Dothan Municipal Court; deputies and state troopers file misdemeanors in Houston County District Court. Every felony, wherever the arrest happened, starts in District Court and is tried in Circuit Court after indictment. Children under 18 go to juvenile court at the courthouse. Dothan city and Houston district courts have no juries; a person found guilty there may appeal to Circuit Court for a fresh trial before jurors.

Where Houston keeps people awaiting trial. The county jail on North Foster Street is the main lockup for the Sheriff's Office, state troopers and the smaller towns, and it holds felony defendants for the whole county. Dothan police run their own city jail at the police headquarters on St. Andrews Street for people arrested on city warrants and municipal charges; a Dothan arrestee facing felony charges may be moved to the county jail.

County courthouse, 114 N. Oates St., Dothan

• Circuit Court (felony trials, appeals from lower courts): circuit criminal clerk, Room 108, (334) 677-4858
• District Court (misdemeanors, preliminary hearings): district criminal clerk, Room 109, (334) 677-4869; traffic (334) 677-4870

Municipal courts

• Dothan Municipal Court: sessions at the police building, 210 N. St. Andrews St.; magistrate's office, 115 W. Adams St., (334) 615-4150
• Ashford Municipal Court, Town Hall, 525 N. Broadway St., (334) 899-3366
• Kinsey Municipal Court, Town Hall, 6947 Walden Dr., (334) 793-5409
• Columbia Municipal Court, Town Hall, 203 S. Washington St., (334) 696-4417
• Gordon Municipal Court, 692 Tifton Rd., (334) 522-3113
• Cottonwood Municipal Court, Town Hall, 12769 Cottonwood Rd., (334) 691-2671
• Taylor Municipal Court, Town Hall, 1469 S. State Hwy. 605, either (334) 677-0029 (court) or (334) 677-5079 (town hall)
• Webb: ask Town Hall, (334) 792-0386, whether citations go to a town court or to District Court
• Cowarts, Rehobeth, Avon and Madrid: ask the Circuit Clerk which court has the charge

In Houston, a defendant without money may request a state-paid lawyer from the bench. A bond on a county case is posted at the Houston County Jail; city cases are handled through the Dothan City Jail and the Dothan magistrate.

Dothan city arrests are handled through City Hall, 126 North Saint Andrews Street, Dothan, AL 36303, 334-615-3000; for the county jail, call the Houston County Sheriff's Office at 334-677-4888. Ordinance violations carry bail of $300 to $1,000, Class A misdemeanors $300 to $6,000, and DUI $1,000 to $7,500. After a Houston domestic violence arrest, release waits until a judge or magistrate sets terms or a full day has gone by.

What happens next

• A first court date in Dothan Municipal Court, a town court or District Court; ask there for an appointed lawyer if you qualify.
• Common outcomes: diversion, a reduced charge, fines and costs, or a bench trial.
• A 14-day deadline applies to appeal a conviction to Circuit Court.

Houston County misdemeanor penalties

• DUI, first offense: up to a year in jail, $600 to $2,100, and a 90-day license loss, which an interlock device may replace; a fourth within 10 years is a Class C felony.
• Fourth-degree theft (property worth $500 or less) and third-degree domestic violence: Class A, up to one year and $6,000.
• Class B misdemeanors cap at six months and $3,000; Class C at three months and $500.

Felony defendants are housed at the Houston County Jail. They see a judge within 48 hours after a warrantless arrest, or within 72 hours when arrested on a warrant. Statewide bail ranges are $1,000 to $10,000 for a Class D felony, $2,500 to $15,000 for Class C, and $5,000 to $30,000 for Class B. The same judge decides whether to appoint counsel.

The felony track in Dothan

• Ask for a District Court preliminary hearing within 30 days of arrest, or the right lapses.
• The case goes to the Houston County grand jury.
• Arraignment before a circuit judge, then pretrial motions, plea talks and, if needed, a 12-person jury trial.
• A Houston defendant younger than 21 when the crime happened may seek youthful offender status, which keeps the record closed and limits any sentence to three years.

Sentencing ranges

• Class D (drug possession, third-degree theft): more than a year, up to five years, fines to $7,500.
• Class C (receiving stolen property in the second degree, third-degree burglary): up to 10 years and $15,000.
• Nonviolent C and D felonies are often scored under presumptive sentencing standards that favor probation, drug court or community corrections; repeat felony offenders face enhanced terms.

Expect a long stay at the Houston County Jail on the most serious charges. The schedule starts murder bail at $15,000 and allows no bail at the top end, and the 20th Circuit District Attorney can request an Aniah's Law no-bail hearing for murder, first-degree robbery, kidnapping, rape and other listed crimes. Since Amendment 1 (May 19, 2026), attempted murder and shots into an occupied Houston home or car qualify as well.

• First-degree robbery and murder are Class A felonies: 10 to 99 years or life, and at least 20 years if a firearm or deadly weapon was used.
• First-degree assault is Class B (2 to 20 years); use of a weapon raises the floor to 10 years.
• Houston capital murder carries one of two sentences, death or permanent prison, and death takes a vote of at least 10 Dothan jurors.
• Seasoned appointed counsel takes these Houston cases when the accused cannot pay.

Delinquency petitions are heard in Houston County juvenile court at the Oates Street courthouse, and the juvenile clerk is in Room 105, (334) 677-4880. Dothan's courthouse fronts 114 North Oates Street, Dothan, AL 36303. Probation officers screen each complaint and may settle minor ones by informal adjustment.

Detention

Houston juvenile probation knows where a detained youth has been sent. Any child kept in custody gets a detention hearing before a judge within 72 hours, weekends counted. Youths under 18 are not booked into the Houston County Jail unless they are charged as adults, in which case adult bail rules apply.

Results and transfers

• A Houston youth may get probation, counseling or a commitment to the Department of Youth Services.
• Automatic adult jurisdiction covers 16- and 17-year-olds accused of a capital offense, a Class A felony, drug trafficking, or a felony involving a deadly weapon, a death or serious injury.
• Prosecutors can move to transfer other cases when the child was at least 14; the judge weighs maturity, record and the offense.

Dothan is home to the Southern Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, at the U.S. Courthouse, 100 W. Troy St.; the district's clerk can be reached at (334) 954-3600.

How a Dothan federal case runs

The first stop is a magistrate judge in Dothan or Montgomery, followed by a detention hearing under the Bail Reform Act, where release on conditions is more common than money bail. Indictment must come within 30 days of a Dothan federal arrest, and trial within 70 days, though many delays are excluded. Federal judges use the Sentencing Guidelines; with no parole, inmates serve roughly 85 percent after good-time credit, then supervised release. Appeals from the Dothan federal court go to Atlanta's Eleventh Circuit. A Marshals prisoner housed near Dothan may show on that local jail's roster too; once sentenced, find the person through the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Houston County's state courts sit at the courthouse on North Oates Street in Dothan:

• Circuit Clerk (Circuit and District Court): 114 North Oates Street, Dothan, AL 36303, 334-677-4800; weekdays 8 to 4:30, closed noon to 1
• Juvenile clerk: Room 105, 334-677-4880
• District Attorney, 20th Judicial Circuit: Dothan, 334-677-4894
• Dothan Magistrate: 115 West Adams Street, 334-615-4150
• Town courts: Ashford 334-899-3366, Columbia 334-696-4417, Cottonwood 334-691-2671, Gordon 334-522-3113, Kinsey 334-793-5409; Webb town hall 334-792-0386
• Houston County Jail: 334-677-4888; Sheriff's Office 411 North Foster Street, 334-677-4882

For bond steps see our Houston bail guide; state ranges are in the Alabama Rule 7.2 bail schedule (https://judicial.alabama.gov/docs/library/rules/cr7_2.pdf).

Houston County falls under the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama:

• Courthouse: the federal courthouse in Dothan, 100 West Troy Street, Dothan, AL 36303 (open for trials; clerk work is in Montgomery), 334-954-3600
• U.S. Marshals: U.S. Marshals Service, 1 Church Street, Suite A-100, Montgomery, AL 36104, 334-922-6960

A U.S. magistrate decides on detention for a Houston defendant; the Marshals arrange the bed.

• Houston jail roster: Houston County Inmate Search
• State prison lookup: Alabama Department of Corrections Inmate Search (https://www.doc.alabama.gov/inmate/inmate-search/)
• Federal prison lookup: Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator (https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/); while charges are pending, 334-922-6960
• VINE: VINELink (https://vinelink.vineapps.com/). Select Alabama, find the record, and add alerts.

See our Houston inmate page for more.

Through a detainer, ICE can request two more business days or fewer of custody from Dothan-area deputies.

• Field office: ICE New Orleans Field Office, 181 James Drive W, St. Rose, LA 70087, 504-318-2360
• Alabama short-stay jails: Baldwin County Correctional Center in Bay Minette, Etowah County Jail in Gadsden and Pickens County Detention Center in Carrollton
• Locator: ICE Online Detainee Locator System (https://locator.ice.gov/odls/)

The Sheriff's Office, 411 North Foster Street, Dothan, AL 36303, serves county warrants and takes calls at 334-677-4882. The office posts a Most Wanted page through Citizen Connect. For other counties, ALEA's fugitive page points to wanted people. Case files are on Alacourt Access, which charges $9.99 apiece. Calling the custody line at that Foster Street office, 334-677-4888, ahead of a surrender gives a lawyer time to settle bond. Court clerks handle resets at 114 North Oates Street, Dothan, AL 36303, which sets new dates at 334-677-4800. Anyone now jailed can be found through the inmate directory.