How to Search the Shepherdstown Court Docket
Shepherdstown publishes no online docket search form. The citation or summons is your starting point. Write down the citation or municipal case number, the charged ordinance or traffic offense, the issue date, the scheduled date, and the status or copy you want. Then contact Municipal Court Clerk Teri Rouse through the official Shepherdstown Municipal Court page.
- Read the issuing court on the summons or citation.
- Keep the Shepherdstown citation or case number exactly as printed.
- Call 304-876-6036 or email trouse@shepherdstown.gov with the identifying details.
- Ask for the current setting, plea status, disposition, or exact court record needed.
- If the filing is county-level, use Magistrate Record Search or WVPASS instead.
If a web search turns up nothing on your case, that does not mean the Shepherdstown charge went away. For the town's municipal docket, the Shepherdstown clerk is the office to contact directly.
Shepherdstown Court Meets Monthly
Shepherdstown Municipal Court holds its regular session at 5:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. That rhythm is a helpful baseline, nothing more. Your summons sets the exact date, time, and place. It outranks the monthly pattern. Also note the official page: the court takes no appointments.
Use the summons first. A monthly pattern is not permission to appear on any third Wednesday without confirming the assigned Shepherdstown setting.
Scheduling conflicts go to Teri Rouse. One caution, though: never swap a Jefferson County Magistrate calendar for a Shepherdstown municipal court date.
The Shepherdstown Municipal Court
Shepherdstown Municipal Court hears misdemeanors, traffic offenses, and parking violations under its town authority. If you are charged, you have choices. You can fight the case. You can also hire a lawyer or speak for yourself and put on evidence. The Shepherdstown docket should show the complaint or citation. It also covers each setting, the court's action, the judgment, and the disposition.
The city describes a courtroom with a municipal judge and a prosecutor. It uses the phrase "Magistrate court system." That label does not make a town case a Jefferson County Magistrate Court case. The municipal record stays with Shepherdstown. A later appeal is the only thing that creates a county Circuit Court file.
Shepherdstown Police Department Courtroom
Shepherdstown Municipal Court convenes inside the police department at 104 North King Street, Suite 100. Court mail goes to P.O. Box 237, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. Do not send it to the courtroom address. The official Municipal Court page posts the court's location, schedule, and contact details.
So a Shepherdstown docket request goes through the police-department court office. It is not handled at a general Jefferson County courthouse counter.
Shepherdstown Municipal Court
104 North King Street, Suite 100
Shepherdstown, WV 25443
Mail: P.O. Box 237
304-876-6036
Clerk: Teri Rouse
Shepherdstown Court Dates and Settings
A Shepherdstown setting can show up on the citation, the summons, a later court notice, or the municipal docket. When the entries disagree, the latest official notice confirmed by the clerk is the one to trust. "Continued" or "reset" only means the setting moved; the case itself is still open.
| Date | The exact date on the summons or most recent notice. |
|---|---|
| Time | The assigned time; regular monthly court begins at 5:30 p.m. |
| Location | Police Department, 104 North King Street, Suite 100, unless the notice states otherwise. |
| Judge | Municipal Court Judge Frank Hill is listed on the official city page. |
| Setting Type | Plea, hearing, trial, payment, or another event stated by the court. |
Keep the citation number handy when you ask the clerk to verify a Shepherdstown court date. Also note that a town meeting calendar is not the same as a court calendar.
Shepherdstown Judge and Magistrate Roles
Shepherdstown's charter sets up a Municipal Court Judge, who carries the title of Magistrate, and allows the town to appoint as many as three magistrates in all. The split in authority matters. A magistrate can sign warrants, summonses, and bonds, yet a trial on guilt or innocence belongs to the judge alone.
- Municipal Court Judge
- The town judicial officer who hears matters within Shepherdstown’s ordinance authority.
- Municipal Magistrate
- An appointed local officer with specified process powers, but no authority to conduct guilt-or-innocence trials.
- County Magistrate Court
- A separate West Virginia county court whose records use the statewide Magistrate search.
Frank Hill serves as Municipal Court Judge, with Jim Auxer listed as Municipal Magistrate. That job title is no reason to send a Shepherdstown case into MCRSearch; the town court keeps its own docket.
Shepherdstown Traffic Tickets
A citation filed in Shepherdstown Municipal Court stays on the town's docket, not the county's. Ask the clerk to verify each item. Check the charge, the plea, and any hearing setting. Ask whether payment cleared and how the case closed. State law makes the court keep the traffic complaint. It must also record every official action on it: conviction, acquittal, or forfeiture, along with each fine or forfeiture amount.
A receipt is not a full docket. If you fight the ticket, the case moves into a court setting before a judge. Follow the issuing court printed on the ticket first. For citations handled at the county level, the separate Jefferson County traffic court records resource covers payment fields and routing.
Missed Shepherdstown Court Settings
Miss a payment or skip a court date in Shepherdstown and the consequences go past a late fee. The town's official page warns that a capias and added fines can follow. A capias is an order from the court to bring a person before it, not a reminder in the mail.
Contact the clerk promptly. Call 304-876-6036 about a missed Shepherdstown appearance, payment, or schedule conflict and ask what the current docket shows.
Guessing at a fix is risky. The next monthly session is not a stand-in for the one you missed. Ask the clerk about process and current status, and get any legal advice from a qualified source.
Where Shepherdstown Cases End Up
Shepherdstown Municipal Court handles ordinance, parking, and qualifying traffic matters. State-law Magistrate cases go to Jefferson County Magistrate Court instead. A municipal appeal can produce a Circuit Court record, while broader Circuit matters start at that level under state jurisdiction.
Docket flow: Shepherdstown Municipal Court › Jefferson County Courts › Circuit Court
Routing is not an automatic move for every case. Search the Jefferson County court docket only when the issuing court, the filing, or an appeal points to the county level.
Shepherdstown Docket in Local Scale
The official 2020 Census incorporated-place table lists 1,531 residents in Shepherdstown. Population is one thing; court caseload is another. The municipality publishes no annual filing count. So do not treat the monthly session schedule as an estimate of how many cases the court hears.
Shepherdstown keeps no online docket list. With no public search interface for the town, the clerk's direct channel is the dependable route to its court docket.
Public Access to Shepherdstown Court Records
West Virginia Code §51-4-2 gives the public a right. The public may inspect court papers and get copies. Some files carry restrictions, though, when another law closes them. A records request to Shepherdstown works best when it names the citation or case number, the ordinance or charge, the date, and the exact item you want. The town publishes no copy-fee schedule. Ask the clerk about cost before you mail any payment.
Key Rules:
West Virginia FOIA provides inspection and copying through a reasonably specific request to the custodian.
Code §17C-19-7 requires traffic citations to be deposited and resolved through authorized court action.
Code §17C-19-8 requires a record of traffic complaints and dispositions.
Some details stay protected. The clerk may withhold them or hand over a version with the sensitive parts blacked out. Ask whether an open docket entry, a judgment, or a redacted copy of the Shepherdstown court record is available.
Shepherdstown Has Two King Street Counters
One street address, two counters. Town Hall and Shepherdstown Municipal Court sit at the same King Street location, but their mailboxes and jobs differ. Court mail belongs in P.O. Box 237, and Teri Rouse handles those calls. Town Hall takes P.O. Box 248, and its general line is 304-876-2312. Walk-in hours there run weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Route your request to the right place. A Shepherdstown hearing date, a citation outcome, or a docket copy goes through the court channel. Anything about town business goes to general Town Hall service. Before mailing original papers, money, or a time-sensitive plea, confirm the delivery point so it does not land in the wrong box.
No Shepherdstown Court Appointments
Shepherdstown posts a notice that there are "no appointments for court." That describes how sessions are scheduled, not whether the clerk will talk to you. Records and scheduling questions are still fair game. Nobody picks a convenient hearing slot off a monthly calendar. The summons assigns the case. Only the court can change it. If a genuine conflict exists, call the clerk before the set date. Have the citation number ready. Bring the assigned date and a reliable mailing address too. That lets the office pull the right Shepherdstown docket.
A phone call or email is not an approved continuance. Ask whether the court actually entered a new date and how written notice will arrive. Until the court authorizes a change, the current summons stands as the key setting record. If a new date is issued, keep both notices. Then confirm the municipal docket reflects the reset.
Shepherdstown Docket Versus MCRSearch
MCRSearch is West Virginia's statewide portal for Magistrate Court information. You can search it by first name, last name, or case number. It caps results at 30 and shows no document images. Those features cover county Magistrate cases only. It is not a search form for Shepherdstown Municipal Court. The confusion is understandable, since the Shepherdstown page itself describes a local system with a municipal judge and a magistrate.
The issuing court settles the question. Paper that says Shepherdstown Municipal Court? Contact Teri Rouse. Paper that says Jefferson County Magistrate Court belongs in MCRSearch and with the Magistrate Clerk. A later appeal may surface through the Circuit Clerk. Search each tier in turn, but read the case paper first, or you risk false matches and empty results. In either route, the documents themselves still require a clerk request, because a case-information screen is only a locator and never a certified Shepherdstown order or judgment.