Criminal cases in this county pass through two kinds of court on South Juliana Street and in four outlying offices.

• Magisterial district courts sit at the bottom layer. Four offices split the county's towns among them, and Central Court adds a Wednesday docket at the courthouse. Summary offenses stay here from start to finish: traffic citations, disorderly conduct, some retail thefts. For bigger charges, these courts handle only the opening rounds, meaning the preliminary arraignment that sets bail and then the preliminary hearing.
• The Court of Common Pleas sits on top. Here it is called the 57th Judicial District, and it serves this county alone. Once a misdemeanor or felony clears its preliminary hearing, it climbs to this court for a plea or a trial. A summary conviction from a district court may be appealed there as well, for a fresh trial.

As a rough guide, misdemeanors top out at 5 years behind bars. Felonies reach 20 years, and murder can mean life (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1102-1104).

Weekday hours at the courthouse run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Court Administration, for the Court of Common Pleas: second floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4812. Call this line about Central Court on any day but Wednesday.
• Clerk of Courts, which shares one office with the Prothonotary: first floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4833. Criminal files live here.
• Central Court, Magisterial District Court 57-3-00: 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-624-2254. Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to the end of the list. Payments in exact cash.
• Federal court: Penn Traffic Building, Room 208, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 814-533-4504.

Jurors summoned for duty can sign in through the county's jury site.

No borough or township in Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh runs its own court. Instead, the spot where a crime happened decides which magisterial district court gets it. Here is the county's map, office by office:

• 57-3-01, 1563 Market Street, Schellsburg, PA 15559, 814-733-4375. Hours 8:30 to noon and 12:30 to 4:00. Covers Harrison, Juniata, Kimmel, King, Lincoln, Londonderry, Napier, Pavia and West St. Clair townships, plus the boroughs of Hyndman, Manns Choice, New Paris, Pleasantville and Schellsburg.
• 57-3-02, 120 West John Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-6918. Hours 8:30 to noon and 1:00 to 4:30. Covers Bedford Borough, Bedford Township, Colerain, Cumberland Valley and East St. Clair townships, plus Rainsburg and St. Clairsville boroughs.
• 57-3-03, 124 Hitchens Road, Defiance, PA 16633, 814-390-6061. Hours 8:30 to noon and 12:30 to 4:00. Covers Bloomfield, Broad Top, Hopewell, Liberty, South Woodbury and Woodbury townships, plus Coaldale, Hopewell, Saxton and Woodbury boroughs.
• 57-3-04, 119 Spring Lane, Everett, PA 15537, 814-652-2523. Hours 8:30 to noon and 1:00 to 4:30. Covers East Providence, Mann, Monroe, Snake Spring, Southampton and West Providence townships, plus Everett Borough.

Have a citation or docket number ready. Payment windows close mid-afternoon, from 3:30 to 4:00.

Pennsylvania calls it the preliminary arraignment. A screen links the jail to a magisterial district judge, so the person rarely travels for it. Overnight and on weekends, whichever judge holds on-call duty steps in. Expect it within about six hours of the arrest, says a crime-victim walkthrough from the state.

Under Rule 540 the judge (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540):

• gives the person the complaint, the paper listing each charge
• reviews the person's rights, such as having a lawyer
• decides on bail or some other kind of release
• puts a preliminary hearing on the calendar

That hearing has a deadline: 14 days out when the person sits in jail, 21 days out when they are home. Here, preliminary hearings are heard on Wednesdays at Central Court, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-624-2254. Guilt is never decided at either step.

Misdemeanors travel the felony path at first. A video arraignment comes first, and a Wednesday hearing at Central Court second. When the prosecution's evidence holds up, the file goes upstairs to Common Pleas. A plea ends many of them. The rest are tried.

Ceilings by grade (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1104):

• M1: 5 years at most, fines up to $10,000
• M2: 2 years at most, fines up to $5,000
• M3: 1 year at most, fines up to $2,500

For a general-impairment DUI, a first or second offense stays a misdemeanor; six months behind bars is the most a judge can give (75 Pa.C.S. § 3803). A refusal or a high blood alcohol reading pushes the grade up.

ARD. Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition is a way for a first offender, often someone with a first DUI, to earn a dismissal. In this county, mail or bring the signed form to the District Attorney no later than 30 days after formal arraignment. Include the $45 fee as a money order or a check from a lawyer's account, payable to "Bedford County." The applicant waives the preliminary hearing, and a decision follows within 14 days. Complete the program, and the charge is dropped and can later be expunged. Get the packet from the county's ARD application link.

1. Video arraignment. The charges come by screen, along with bail.
2. Preliminary hearing. Held on a Wednesday at Central Court. The DA must make a prima facie case. That is proof a crime happened, along with a likely link to the accused. Without it, the case ends right there in the district court.
3. The information. The DA's office drafts this formal charging paper for Common Pleas, sometimes adding or dropping counts.
4. Formal arraignment. Only held on the days set in the yearly court calendar (Local Rule 571).
5. Pretrial conference. A common place for plea bargains.
6. Trial. The case is heard by a judge alone, in a bench trial, or by a twelve-member jury whose verdict has to be unanimous. Either way, conviction needs proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
7. Sentencing. A probation report comes first. An appeal would go to the Superior Court.

Felony ceilings (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1103): F1, 20 years and $25,000; F2, 10 years and $25,000; F3, 7 years and $15,000.

Several things work differently:

• Charging. Local Rule 507.1 makes police get the DA's approval first. This covers homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, arson and robbery. It also covers some felony sex crimes, some DUI crimes and anything that caused a death.
• Bail. Holding someone with no bail is allowed in two cases: a death or life charge, or no conditions that could protect others. In both, the burden of proof falls on the DA (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14).
• Murder. First degree brings death or life. A second-degree conviction means life. Third degree tops out at 40 years (18 Pa.C.S. § 1102).
• Teens. For murder, and for certain armed violent crimes, 15 to 17 year olds start out in the adult system.
• Victims. They may weigh in on bail, any plea bargain and the sentence.

Criminal cases in the county's courts are brought by the District Attorney's Office, first floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4855, email districtattorney@bedfordcountypa.org. ARD runs out of this office too.

Defendants who cannot pay for a lawyer go to the Public Defender's Office. It shares the first floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-8606. Pennsylvania law has public defenders handle preliminary hearings, trials, juvenile matters and probation violation hearings (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following).

• Applications are handed out at the office and posted on the county's apply for counsel page.
• An adult who leaves out the financial papers gets a denial.
• Applicants sign under oath, so lying on the form is a crime.

Hiring privately? The courts point to a Lawyer Referral Service, 800-692-7375.

Yes. Bedford County Treatment Court opened in 2024 for defendants dealing with mental illness, substance use disorder or both. Its first class graduated in November 2025.

Ask the defense lawyer if the case could be sent there. To learn how referrals work, phone Court Administration, second floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4812.

Every Pennsylvania court files its criminal dockets in one place, the free UJS Web Portal case search. You skip signing up.

1. Choose to search by participant name. Fill in a first name, a last name and Bedford as the county.
2. Holding a docket number from the paperwork? Searching by it is quicker.
3. Open the docket sheet to see each charge, the bail amount, hearing dates and which court has it.

District court files and Common Pleas files both appear. Brand-new entries sometimes lag. Cases that are juvenile, sealed or expunged stay hidden, and dockets never give a jail location. The Clerk of Courts, first floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4833, looks up cases by phone. Spell the defendant's legal name and give the birth date.

When a Common Pleas judge issues a bench warrant, sheriff's deputies serve it. Police officers and constables carry out other warrants. Wanted lists that reach this county include the FBI's wanted list, the state's Pennsylvania State Police Ten Most Wanted and, for federal fugitives, U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted. For a local warrant, phone the Sheriff at 814-623-2910 or check the docket on the UJS portal. Clearing a warrant? Get legal advice first, from a hired lawyer or the public defender. With that lawyer, go to the issuing court and surrender, or phone its office to reschedule. The Sheriff and the Clerk of Courts, 814-623-4833, share the first floor at 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522.

Federal crimes from this county fall to the Johnstown division of the Western District of Pennsylvania. Judges hear cases on Washington Street in Johnstown, Penn Traffic Building, Room 208, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 814-533-4504. The U.S. Attorney's Johnstown staff work from Suite 200 of the Penn Traffic Building, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 814-533-4547.

• Release or detention is argued at the opening federal court date, under 18 U.S.C. 3142.
• Prisoners awaiting federal trial sit in U.S. Marshals Service custody, 700 Grant Street, Room 2360, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-644-3351.
• Defendants who qualify get a free lawyer through the Federal Public Defender in Johnstown, Penn Traffic Building, Room 102, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 412-644-6565.
• Once a federal sentence begins, check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

An ICE request leaves the county charges on track. It matters on release day, when the person would otherwise go home.

1. ICE lodges a Form I-247A detainer with BCCF.
2. It asks BCCF to hold the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. After an ICE pickup, the person's file sits with the agency's Philadelphia Field Office, 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
4. Track them on the ICE Online Detainee Locator by A-number. A name search works too, but it also asks for the birth country.

Pennsylvania is in the Third Circuit. Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014), decided there, found that a jail may refuse a detainer. Keeping a person only because ICE asked can leave the county legally responsible. Jails here each set their own policy. BCCF can describe its approach at 814-623-2955.

Pennsylvania judges give a range, with a low and a high number. It is the high number that matters for location (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). When it is under 2 years, time is done on Imlertown Road. When it reaches 5 years, the Department of Corrections gets the person. In the 2-to-5 gap, the state is still the norm, and a local stay happens only if jail officials, the prosecutor and the judge agree.

First stop for new state prisoners: a reception and classification center, for a stay of weeks or months. There, staff decide which prison suits them.

• Search the Pennsylvania DOC inmate locator.
• Browse our Pennsylvania state prisons overview.
• DOC headquarters: 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.

County adult probation, which is separate from the jail, supervises people on probation. Its office is on the lower level, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4830.

Pennsylvania's Juvenile Act treats anyone under 18 as a child, and juvenile court takes the case (42 Pa.C.S. § 6302). Juvenile probation steers it from an office in the courthouse, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4830.

• Youth are detained in a juvenile center, never at BCCF. For July 2025 through June 2026, the county contracted with the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention Center. Juvenile probation knows where each youth is.
• Juvenile files are left off the UJS docket search.
• The public defender takes juvenile cases, using a separate juvenile application.
• Teens 15 to 17 years old who face murder charges, or certain violent charges with a weapon, start out in adult court. Defense counsel can ask for a transfer, called decertification, to juvenile court.

Victims have rights under the Crime Victims Act (18 P.S. § 11.101 and following). They can learn of major court events and of a release. They may talk to the court about bail, a plea deal or the sentence. A family member or advocate can sit with them in court.

• Sign up with PA SAVIN for free word of a release or transfer. Use VINELink or call 866-972-7284 (TTY 866-847-1298).
• Pennsylvania's Victims Compensation Assistance Program can repay costs such as medical bills or counseling: 800-233-2339.
• Case questions go to the District Attorney's Office, first floor, 200 South Juliana Street, Bedford, PA 15522, 814-623-4855.

A word to the defendant's family: no calls, visits, texts or go-between notes to the victim. Any of those can count as a bail violation, and new charges can follow.