Find Dunwoody Criminal Court Records

Criminal court records in Dunwoody are managed by the city municipal court and the DeKalb County court system. The Dunwoody Municipal Court handles traffic cases, city code violations, and misdemeanor crimes that happen within city limits. Felony cases go to the DeKalb County Superior Court in the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit. Dunwoody incorporated as a city in 2008, so its municipal court is newer than most in metro Atlanta. The court operates from 4800 Ashford Dunwoody Road. Both the city and county courts make records available to the public under Georgia's open records law.

Dunwoody Municipal Court Records

The Dunwoody Municipal Court handles city ordinance cases, traffic offenses, and misdemeanor crimes within Dunwoody. The court was set up when the city incorporated and has been taking cases since 2009. It deals with a range of matters from speeding tickets to shoplifting charges to code enforcement violations.

The court is at 4800 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338. Call (678) 382-6700 for case questions. You can walk in during business hours to ask about a case or get copies. Staff can look up cases by name or citation number. Bring a valid photo ID with you. The clerk prints copies of case documents at the standard state rate.

Note: Dunwoody Municipal Court does not hear felony cases, which are handled by DeKalb County Superior Court in Decatur.

DeKalb County Criminal Records

Felony criminal cases from Dunwoody go to the DeKalb County Superior Court. This court sits in the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit and handles drug cases, violent crimes, burglary, and other serious offenses. The DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court keeps these records at the courthouse in Decatur, which is the county seat.

DeKalb County also runs a State Court that handles misdemeanor criminal cases at the county level. Some cases that start in Dunwoody's municipal court may get bound over to the state court if they are more complex. The Magistrate Court in DeKalb County handles preliminary hearings for felony arrests, including those made by the Dunwoody Police Department. If you are trying to find a specific case, knowing which court level it ended up in will save you time.

DeKalb County has an online case search portal. You can look up criminal records by defendant name, case number, or filing date. The system shows charges, case status, hearing dates, and the assigned judge. Criminal case records from the Stone Mountain Circuit go back many years in this system.

The E-Access to Court Records portal run by the Georgia courts is another good tool. It pulls case data from courts statewide, including DeKalb County. You need to create a free account to search. The results include case numbers, charges, and basic docket info.

Search Dunwoody Criminal Court Cases

Several paths exist for finding criminal court records from Dunwoody. Your choice depends on the record type and how quickly you need it.

The GSCCCA indexes court filings from all 159 Georgia counties. Search for DeKalb County records through this tool. A regular account costs $14.95 per month. The premium tier is $29.95. The GSCCCA also offers the free FANS alert system. FANS sends you a notice when new filings show up under a name you are tracking. It works across every county in the state.

To get your own criminal history, go to the Dunwoody Police Department or DeKalb County Sheriff's Office and ask for a Purpose Code U report. This report pulls from the Georgia Crime Information Center database. It covers arrests, charges, and dispositions from every county in Georgia. You need your name, date of birth, and fingerprints. The GBI website has the full rundown on this process.

You can also visit the Dunwoody Municipal Court on Ashford Dunwoody Road or the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur for an in-person lookup. Bring the full name and date of birth. A case number helps. Clerk staff can typically pull what you need while you wait.

Note: Copy fees under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71 are set at $0.10 per page, with the first 15 minutes of search time free at any Georgia public office.

Dunwoody Record Restriction Rules

Georgia lets people restrict certain criminal records from public view. The old term was expungement. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37, you may be able to restrict records for arrests that did not result in conviction, some misdemeanor convictions after a four-year period, and cases that sat on a dead docket longer than 12 months. The law caps it at two misdemeanor restrictions per lifetime.

For Dunwoody arrests on or after July 1, 2013, the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office handles restriction requests. For older arrests, contact the Dunwoody Police Department directly. Agencies can charge up to $50 to process the request. After the court signs off on a restriction, the record gets pulled from public view under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72. It will no longer show up in standard searches.

Because Dunwoody is a newer city, criminal records from before 2008 fall under unincorporated DeKalb County. Those older records sit with the DeKalb County Police or the county court system, not with the City of Dunwoody. Keep that in mind if you are trying to restrict a record from that time period. The DeKalb County Clerk's office can help you sort out which agency holds the file.

Georgia State Resources

The GBI operates the state criminal history database. You can reach the Criminal History Records Helpline at (404) 244-2639 option 3 with questions. The GBI Open Records Unit takes requests through their online portal only. They do not accept email or fax requests for open records.

Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, the Georgia Open Records Act guarantees the right to request records from any public agency. This includes municipal courts, county courts, and police departments. If Dunwoody or DeKalb County denies a request, they must tell you which legal exemption they are using. You can challenge the denial through the Attorney General's office or by filing an action in superior court.

Response times are set by state law. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, agencies have three business days to respond to a records request. They can ask for more time if the request is large or if records are stored off-site. But they cannot ignore the request or sit on it without giving you a written reason. This applies to every public office in Dunwoody and DeKalb County alike.

Nearby Cities

These cities near Dunwoody also have criminal court records you can search. Each has a municipal court for local cases, but felony matters go through the county court system.