• Clerk of District Court: Jackson County Courthouse, 201 West Platt Street, Maquoketa, IA 52060; 563-652-4946.
• Jackson County Attorney: 201 West Platt Street, Maquoketa, IA 52060; 563-652-3214.
• Jackson County Jail: Law Enforcement Center, 1700 E. Maple Street, Maquoketa, IA 52060; 563-652-3312.

A jailed defendant is brought before a magistrate quickly, often over video from East Maple Street. The court reads the charge, sets release conditions and asks about a lawyer. After a warrantless arrest, probable cause has to be confirmed by a judge in 48 hours or less.

• Magistrate: simple misdemeanors, traffic tickets and ordinance cases from Maquoketa, Bellevue, Preston and Sabula.
• District associate judge: misdemeanors one step up, such as a first OWI.
• District judge: felonies and the juvenile docket.

1. Booking at the Law Enforcement Center and an initial appearance.
2. Formal charges, called a trial information, usually filed inside 45 days.
3. Arraignment, commonly skipped by filing a written not-guilty plea.
4. Both sides swap evidence and argue motions; depositions are common.
5. Trial within 90 days after arraignment, unless the defense agrees to wait.
6. A presentence report from the Seventh District's correctional services, then sentencing.

Iowa Courts Online lets you pick Jackson County and look up a name or case number. Charges, court dates and orders appear; juvenile and sealed cases do not.

Tell the magistrate that you cannot pay a lawyer and sign the sworn financial affidavit. If the judge approves, the State Public Defender system provides a lawyer, either from a public defender office or under contract. Repayment of part of the fee can be ordered later.

Juvenile delinquency cases are heard at the Maquoketa courthouse. Juvenile Court Services shares the 201 West Platt Street building, 563-652-4249. Jackson County youths who are ordered detained are driven to Davenport, to the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center at 500 West 4th Street, Davenport, IA 52801, 563-326-8686.

Jackson County's federal cases are brought in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, Eastern Division. The clerk is at 111 7th Avenue SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401, 319-286-2300. PACER has the docket and the BOP locator shows federal custody.

See our Jackson County bail page for amounts, payment and refunds.

Everyone passes a metal detector going in. The Jackson clerk answers at 563-652-4946, fax 563-652-2708. Hearings are scheduled by the district at 563-243-6213.

You can call the sheriff's office, whose deputies serve warrants signed at the courthouse on West Platt Street; weekday hours run 8 to 4:30 at 563-652-3312. Deputies here also patrol several small towns that have no police of their own. Nobody publishes a warrant roll for the county, and Iowa never built a statewide search the public can use. Iowa Courts Online still lets you read the case. The Clerk of District Court, 201 West Platt Street (563-652-4946), handles requests for a new date after a missed hearing.