Pennsylvania splits the work between a local court and a county court.

• Magisterial district courts. More than 550 of these sit around the state, and four serve this county. They hear summary offenses, the smallest charges, such as traffic tickets and disorderly conduct. For every misdemeanor and felony, they hold the opening hearings and set bail.
• Court of Common Pleas. Once a district judge finds enough evidence, felonies and misdemeanors move up to this court for trial or a plea. Someone found guilty of a summary offense may appeal here and have the whole case heard again.
• Juvenile court. Part of the Common Pleas bench, it takes most charges filed against anyone younger than 18.

The county's Common Pleas court is the 46th Judicial District, and it serves this one county alone.

Court business is split between two buildings a short walk apart. Both use the county switchboard, 814-765-2641, and keep hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

• Courthouse, 1 North Second Street, Clearfield, PA 16830. Courtrooms are here, along with the Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts in Suite 124 (extensions 5013 and 5014), Court Administration (extension 5010) and the Sheriff's Office.
• Courthouse Annex, 230 East Market Street, Clearfield, PA 16830. This is where the District Attorney (Suite 210), the Public Defender (Suite 222), Adult Probation (Suite 233) and Juvenile Probation (Suite 234) work.

Mail for the Clerk goes to PO Box 549, Clearfield, PA 16830.

The arrest location decides which district court takes the first hearings. The towns below come from the state Supreme Court's 2022 order on district lines.

• Magisterial District Court 46-3-01, 309 Maple Avenue, DuBois, PA 15801, 814-371-5321. Alternative number: 814-371-5323. Covers DuBois, Falls Creek, Troutville, and Bloom, Brady, Huston, Pine, Sandy and Union townships.
• Magisterial District Court 46-3-02, 814-765-5335. Alternative number: 814-765-0386. Covers Clearfield Borough, Curwensville, and Lawrence and Pike townships. Ask for the street address when you call.
• Magisterial District Court 46-3-03, 131 Rolling Stone Road, Kylertown, PA 16847, 814-345-6789. Alternative number: 814-345-6444. Covers Chester Hill and Osceola Mills, and Bradford, Cooper, Covington, Decatur, Girard, Goshen, Graham, Karthaus and Morris townships.
• Magisterial District Court 46-3-04, 251 Spring Street, Suite 3, Houtzdale, PA 16651, 814-378-7160. Covers Brisbin, Burnside, Coalport, Glen Hope, Grampian, Houtzdale, Irvona, Lumber City, Mahaffey, New Washington, Newburg, Ramey, Wallaceton and Westover, plus Beccaria, Bell, Bigler, Boggs, Burnside, Chest, Ferguson, Greenwood, Gulich, Jordan, Knox, Penn and Woodward townships.

Preliminary arraignment. Within hours of booking, a district judge meets the defendant, often by video. The judge gives them the written complaint, explains their rights, decides bail and schedules the preliminary hearing (Pa.R.Crim.P. 540).

Preliminary hearing. The judge for the district where the alleged crime happened runs it. Court rules set the clock: 14 days if the defendant sits in jail, 21 days if out. To move forward, the DA must present what lawyers call a prima facie case. Think of it as a first look: is there decent proof of a crime, and does it point to this defendant? Usually the defendant stays silent.

If the evidence is too thin, the judge dismisses the charges. If it is strong enough, the charges are bound over to Common Pleas. Defendants can also give up this hearing so the charges move up right away.

A misdemeanor usually walks the same steps a felony does, with less at risk. Pennsylvania grades them by the most time they can bring (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1104):

• M1: up to 5 years and $10,000
• M2: up to 2 years and $5,000
• M3: up to 1 year and $2,500
• Summary offense: up to 90 days and $300, handled entirely by the district judge (18 Pa.C.S. § 1105)

For a first DUI at the lowest alcohol tier, the law allows up to six months in jail, and the charge is a misdemeanor (75 Pa.C.S. § 3803). DUI penalties climb with higher alcohol levels, refusals and earlier offenses. First offenders often ask the District Attorney about ARD. Finishing it can mean the charge is dropped.

Lost a summary case before the district judge? The county posts its summary appeal steps. Act fast, since the appeal window is short.

1. Preliminary arraignment and preliminary hearing at the district court.
2. The information. The DA writes up the final list of charges, sometimes adding new counts or dropping old ones.
3. Formal arraignment comes next in Common Pleas, most often a month or two after the hearing. That is where the defendant is given the information. The Clerk keeps an arraignment waiver form that a lawyer may use.
4. Pretrial conference, where plea offers are often worked out.
5. Trial by a jury of 12, whose verdict has to be unanimous, or by a judge sitting alone. Guilt has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and that job falls on the DA.
6. Sentencing, usually after Probation writes a pre-sentence report.

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

Yes. Serious charges change bail, sentencing and even which court hears a teen.

• Bail. A judge can deny release when the possible sentence is death or life in prison. Release can also be denied when no rule short of jail would keep others safe. The burden falls on the DA, who must bring real evidence (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14).
• Murder. A first-degree conviction brings either death or life behind bars. A second-degree conviction also means life. Third-degree murder tops out at 40 years (18 Pa.C.S. § 1102).
• Teens. Pennsylvania law starts murder cases against teens from age 15 up in adult court. Some violent felonies involving a gun or other deadly weapon start there as well.
• Victims. In crimes that caused injury, victims may weigh in on plea deals and sentencing.
• Prison. Any sentence whose top number reaches five years means time in a state prison rather than this jail (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762).

Both offices work in the Courthouse Annex and share the county line, 814-765-2641.

• District Attorney's Office, 230 East Market Street, Suite 210, Clearfield, PA 16830, extension 5017. The DA files charges, makes plea offers and picks who may enter ARD (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition). Think of ARD as a fresh start meant mostly for people with no record. Once a judge approves it, the person serves a stretch of supervision, takes any required classes and pays the costs. After that the court drops the charge, and the record can usually be cleared too (Pa.R.Crim.P. 310).
• Public Defender's Office, 230 East Market Street, Suite 222, Clearfield, PA 16830, extension 5007. It takes criminal cases for people who meet its money guidelines. Use the adult application.

The county's DUI Coordinator in the Probation office is at extension 2083.

The state's UJS Web Portal case search covers district court and Common Pleas cases at no charge, with no login. Pick "Participant Name," fill in first and last names, then choose this county. A docket number works too.

• Each docket shows the charges, bail status, upcoming hearings and money owed or paid.
• Very recent filings can be missing for a short while.
• Juvenile, sealed and expunged cases never appear.
• The portal says nothing about where someone is jailed.

Prefer to ask a person? The Clerk of Courts answers at 814-765-2641, extension 5014. If the defendant moves, file the Clerk's change of address notice so court mail reaches them.

Bench warrants from the Court of Common Pleas go to the Sheriff's Office to serve. Town police and constables act on other warrants. Official fugitive lists: U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted; Pennsylvania State Police Ten Most Wanted; FBI wanted. To ask about a local warrant, call 814-765-2641 and ask for the Sheriff's Office or the Clerk of Courts, or stop at the courthouse, 1 North Second Street, Clearfield, PA 16830. Never ignore one. Talk it over with the public defender or your own lawyer, then contact the court that issued it to set up a surrender or a new date.

A federal charge filed here is heard at the Western District of Pennsylvania's Johnstown courthouse: U.S. Courthouse, 208 Penn Traffic Building, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 814-533-4504. The clerk's office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

• Within days of arrest, a detention hearing takes place. The federal judge rules there on release or custody pending trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• The case is prosecuted out of the U.S. Attorney's Johnstown office in the Penn Traffic Building, Suite 200, 319 Washington Street, Johnstown, PA 15901, 814-533-4547.
• People who cannot pay a lawyer can get one from the Federal Public Defender, 412-644-6565, which also keeps an office in that building.
• The U.S. Marshals Service, 700 Grant Street, Room 2360, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-644-3351, guards and moves federal prisoners.
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows the prison once a sentence begins.

No. The criminal case keeps its own schedule. A detainer only matters on the day of release.

1. Immigration officers send the county jail a Form I-247A detainer request.
2. Under that request, the person sits in the jail up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Pennsylvania's federal appeals court, the Third Circuit, held in 2014 that a jail may refuse to honor a detainer. It added that a county which keeps someone locked up on a detainer alone may face a lawsuit over it (Galarza v. Szalczyk, 3d Cir. 2014). Because of that ruling, the choice rests with this jail, so ask it at 814-765-7891.
4. If ICE picks the person up, the Philadelphia Field Office handles the case: 114 North 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

The top end of the sentence decides (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). Under two years, the time is spent in the county jail on Twenty First Street. Five years or longer means state prison. In between, from two to five years, the state is the default, and a local stay needs approval from the judge, the prosecutor and the jail.

• State inmates are first classified at an intake center, which can take weeks or months.
• Type a name into the Department of Corrections inmate locator.
• Its main office: 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Our Pennsylvania state prisons page has each prison's details.

County sentences and probation are supervised by Adult Probation in the Courthouse Annex, 230 East Market Street, Suite 233, Clearfield, PA 16830, 814-765-2641, extension 5009.

Youth cases run under the Juvenile Act (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301) and start with Juvenile Probation, not the adult court. Records stay private and off the portal.

• Juvenile Probation, Courthouse Annex, 230 East Market Street, Suite 234, Clearfield, PA 16830, 814-765-2641, extension 5018.
• Central Counties Youth Center, 148 Paradise Road, Bellefonte, PA 16823, 814-355-0650, holds youth who need secure detention. This county is one of its five owners.
• A youth can have a public defender. Use the juvenile application.

Not every teen case stays in juvenile court. Teens aged 15 to 17 who face a murder charge start as adults, as do those charged with certain armed violent crimes. Their lawyer may then petition to have the case sent back to juvenile court.

The DA's Victim/Witness Office helps victims through each hearing. It is in the Courthouse Annex, 230 East Market Street, Suite 108, Clearfield, PA 16830, 814-765-2641, extension 5003.

• Pennsylvania's Crime Victims Act lets victims learn of releases and key court dates. They may also give their views on bail, plea deals and the sentence (18 P.S. § 11.101 and following).
• For free text, phone or email alerts on release or transfer, register with PA SAVIN on VINELink or call 866-972-7284 (TTY 866-847-1298).
• Medical, counseling or funeral bills from a crime? Ask PCCD's Victims Compensation Assistance Program about help, at 800-233-2339.

Do not reach out to the victim in any way, not even to apologize or pass a note from the defendant. That kind of contact can break bail conditions.