Arrest Records for Marquette County, Michigan

Marquette County arrest records live across two separate systems: the court docket, maintained by the Marquette County Circuit Court and the 96th District Court, and the booking record, held by the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office at 236 W. Baraga Ave. The statewide MiCOURT Case Search covers participating courts and is a reasonable place to confirm a case number or disposition online. The Marquette County Clerk’s Office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the Sheriff’s Office main office runs Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bring government-issued photo ID for any in-person records request.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Marquette County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If you need records outside Marquette County

A nationwide criminal records search may surface cases from neighboring Upper Peninsula counties, federal court filings that MiCOURT Case Search does not index, or records from prior addresses in other states. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account. This tool may help fill gaps that local portals often leave, particularly for name variants or records predating a court’s online window.

Sponsored: Nationwide Criminal Background Check (we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you).

This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.

How to look up arrest records in Marquette County

Marquette County criminal records fall into four distinct types, each held by a different custodian: the criminal docket (filed with the court clerk), the booking record (held by the arresting agency or the Sheriff’s jail), the charge sheet (generated at arraignment and entered into the court file), and the case disposition (the final judgment or dismissal entered by the judge). Knowing which type you need tells you exactly where to go.

MiCOURT Case Search — court dockets and dispositions. The MiCOURT Case Search portal covers courts that participate in the statewide system. For Marquette County, this is your fastest online option for confirming a case number, charge description, and disposition. Search by name or case number. Note that some participating courts show only recent criminal sentencings online; if the case is older or the result comes back empty, contact the Marquette County Circuit Court or the 96th District Court clerk directly to confirm. New criminal cases in Marquette County begin at the 96th District Court — misdemeanors are tried there, and felony arraignments and preliminary examinations happen there before a case moves up to the Circuit Court.

Marquette County Clerk — certified copies of court records. For a certified copy of a charge sheet, docket entry, or judgment, visit the Marquette County Clerk’s Office in person at the Marquette County Courthouse. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bring government-issued photo ID. The Clerk’s Office can confirm the current records-request fee and accepted payment methods when you call ahead; confirm before driving, as fees are subject to change.

Marquette County Sheriff’s Office — booking records. Booking records — the arrest date, charges at intake, and the booking photograph — are held by the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office. The main office at 236 W. Baraga Ave. is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fingerprinting services are available at the same address, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Sheriff’s Office also maintains a mobile app — the Marquette County Sheriff App — that supports jail inmate lookup and can reduce the need for an in-person visit for basic status checks. For a formal public-records request under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, submit your written request to the Sheriff’s Office directly.

City of Marquette Police Department — city arrests. Arrests made within the City of Marquette are handled by the Marquette Police Department at 300 W. Baraga Ave. Fingerprinting services are available there Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For records of a city arrest, contact the Marquette Police Department directly; booking records for city arrests may not appear in the Sheriff’s system.

Michigan Department of Corrections — state prison records. If the person you’re researching is serving a state prison sentence or is on state supervision, use the Michigan Department of Corrections offender search. Marquette County is also home to Marquette Branch Prison, a state facility; the MDOC Marquette Branch Prison page has facility-specific information. This system is separate from county court records and covers state-sentenced individuals only.

Michigan State Police — statewide conviction history. The Michigan State Police operate the Internet Criminal History Access Tool (ICHAT), a paid public name search that reports conviction information statewide. It does not show dismissed cases, warrants, traffic records, or local misdemeanors below a certain threshold. Use it to verify what appears on a statewide criminal history report, but treat it as one source among several rather than a complete picture.

A practical note on courthouse visits: the Marquette County Clerk’s Office is in downtown Marquette, and parking maps are available for the courthouse area. Winter street parking in Marquette is restricted November 1 through April 1 from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. on all city streets — plan for off-street parking if you’re visiting during winter months.

Are Marquette County arrest records public?

Treat Marquette County arrest records as public records unless a specific legal exception applies. Michigan’s open-records law, MCL 15.231 et seq., establishes a default presumption of public access to government records, including court filings and law enforcement records. That presumption covers most arrest records, booking information, and court dockets in Marquette County.

The exceptions are narrow but real. Sealed or expunged records — those set aside under Michigan’s conviction-set-aside statute — are not accessible to the general public after the court grants the petition. Juvenile adjudication records carry their own confidentiality protections and are generally not public. Victim-identifying information may be redacted from records involving certain offenses, particularly sexual assault and domestic violence cases. Ongoing investigations may also justify withholding specific records under a case-by-case privacy exemption.

Booking photographs are generally public records under the same framework, subject to a privacy exemption applied on a case-by-case basis. The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office applies that exemption at its discretion; call the Sheriff’s Office to ask about the policy for a specific record rather than assuming a booking photo will be released automatically.

A case that ended in acquittal or a pretrial dismissal occupies a different category. Michigan law handles those outcomes by destroying the arrest record rather than sealing it — so the record may not appear in public searches even without a formal petition. If you’re checking your own record and an arrest that ended in dismissal still appears somewhere, contact the arresting agency and the court clerk to confirm whether the destruction process was completed.

Federal cases — prosecuted through the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, which has a divisional office serving Marquette — are governed by federal court rules rather than Michigan’s open-records law. Public access to federal criminal case information is available through the federal PACER system, not through MiCOURT Case Search.

What’s in a Marquette County arrest record?

Marquette County arrest records contain two distinct layers of information, and they live in different systems with different visible fields. Understanding which layer you’re looking at prevents confusion when the two don’t match exactly.

The booking record — the Sheriff-side document — is created at the time of arrest and intake at the Marquette County Jail. It typically includes: the booking date and time, the arresting agency (Sheriff’s Office, Marquette Police Department, Michigan State Police, or another local department), the charges as written at intake, the defendant’s identifying information, and the booking photograph. The booking record reflects what the arresting officer charged at the moment of arrest. It does not reflect what the prosecutor ultimately filed or how the case resolved.

The criminal docket — the court-side document — is created when the case is filed with the 96th District Court or the Marquette County Circuit Court. Docket entries include: the case number, the formal charge or charges as filed by the prosecutor (which may differ from the booking charges), the arraignment date, bail conditions set by the judge, each hearing date and its outcome, the attorney of record, and the final disposition — whether that’s a conviction, dismissal, acquittal, or plea. The docket is the authoritative record of what happened legally; the booking record is the authoritative record of what happened at arrest.

When you pull a record through MiCOURT Case Search, you’re seeing the court-side docket. When you submit a records request to the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office at the Marquette County Courthouse, you’re requesting the booking-side record. A complete picture of an arrest requires both.

Disposition data in MiCOURT Case Search may lag behind the actual court date, particularly for older cases or cases in courts that participate only partially in the statewide system. If the online docket shows a case as pending but you believe it was resolved, contact the 96th District Court clerk or the Circuit Court clerk directly to confirm the current status. The Marquette County Courthouse is the physical location for both courts’ clerks.

One field worth noting: the attorney of record appears in the court docket but not in the booking record. If you need to identify who represented a defendant in a Marquette County case, the docket is the place to look.

How to expunge an arrest record in Marquette County

Petitioning to set aside a conviction in Marquette County is a routine legal procedure governed by MCL 780.621, and many people pursue it without an attorney. The statute uses the term “set aside” — what most people call expungement — and the process runs through the court that originally entered the conviction.

After a conviction is set aside, law enforcement agencies retain access to the sealed record. The Michigan State Police, prosecutors, and courts can still see it. The public cannot. Background checks run by members of the public — including through commercial databases — should not return the record after it is set aside, though database update lag can mean it takes time to disappear from all sources.

Waiting periods. The clock starts from whichever comes last: the end of the sentence, probation, parole, or imprisonment — not from the arrest date or the conviction date. For most misdemeanors, the wait is three or more years. For one felony, one or more serious misdemeanors, or a first drunk-driving offense, the wait is five or more years. For more than one felony, the wait is seven or more years. If the court denies a petition, you must wait three years from the denial before petitioning again for the same conviction, unless the court sets an earlier date.

Application limits. A petition filed by application can set aside no more than three felony offenses in total, no more than two convictions for an assaultive crime in a lifetime, and no more than one felony for the same offense when it is punishable by more than ten years.

Automatic set-aside under the Clean Slate law. Many eligible convictions are now set aside automatically — no application required — after a period without new offenses. For a misdemeanor, the automatic set-aside runs seven years from the imposition of the sentence. For a felony, it runs ten years from the later of the sentence or release from prison. The automatic path covers no more than two felonies and four misdemeanors in a lifetime; that misdemeanor limit does not count misdemeanors punishable by 92 days or less. Serious offenses are excluded from the automatic path, and some offenses can never be set aside. Do not rely on a specific date for when an automatic set-aside will occur — the timing depends on your full record and is not publicly announced.

Dismissed cases and acquittals. An arrest that ended in acquittal or a pretrial dismissal is handled differently. Michigan law calls for destroying the arrest record rather than setting anything aside. If a dismissed arrest is still appearing in searches, contact the Marquette County Circuit Court or 96th District Court clerk and the arresting agency to confirm whether the destruction was completed.

Filing the petition. File your Petition to Set Aside Conviction at the court that entered the conviction — either the 96th District Court or the Marquette County Circuit Court, depending on the offense level. The Marquette County Courthouse houses both clerks. Bring government-issued photo ID. Ask the clerk about the current filing fee and whether an indigency waiver is available if cost is a barrier.

Self-petition vs. attorney-assisted. The forms are available through the Michigan courts system. Many people complete the process without an attorney for straightforward misdemeanor petitions. For felony petitions, multiple convictions, or any case where eligibility is unclear, consulting a licensed attorney is worth the time. The Michigan Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with an attorney in the Upper Peninsula. If you cannot afford an attorney, the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission can help identify public defender resources.

Separate paths exist for misdemeanor marihuana convictions and juvenile adjudications under Michigan law; the waiting periods and procedures for those paths differ from the general set-aside process described here. Ask the clerk or a licensed attorney about those specific paths if they apply to your situation.

Quick-reference contacts

Frequently asked questions about Marquette County arrest records

Where can I find out what’s on my own Marquette County arrest record?

Pull your court-side record through MiCOURT Case Search — search your name and review any Marquette County cases that appear. For the booking-side record, submit a written FOIA request to the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office at 236 W. Baraga Ave. (open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). For a statewide conviction history, the Michigan State Police ICHAT tool provides a paid name search. If a dismissed arrest still appears in searches, contact the arresting agency and the court clerk to confirm whether the record destruction was completed under Michigan law.

How do I get a Marquette County arrest record set aside?

File a Petition to Set Aside Conviction at the court that entered the conviction — either the 96th District Court or the Marquette County Circuit Court, both located at the Marquette County Courthouse. The governing statute is MCL 780.621. Waiting periods run from the end of your sentence, probation, parole, or imprisonment: three or more years for most misdemeanors; five or more years for one felony, one or more serious misdemeanors, or a first drunk-driving offense; seven or more years for more than one felony. Many eligible convictions are now set aside automatically under Michigan’s Clean Slate law without any application. After a set-aside, the record remains visible to law enforcement but is removed from public access. Ask the clerk about the current filing fee and whether an indigency waiver is available; the Michigan Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with an attorney if you need help with the petition.