In California, criminal files are stored county by county. Some counties are better than others about online records and each county has its own policies and procedures for obtaining records.
Sacramento County
In Sacramento County, the records are accessible online. You can search by Xref (reference number) and case number for free or open an account and pay to search by name. For civil cases, all filed documents are available online. You can view a preview for free or pay to view the complete document. The Sacramento criminal case records are available here and the civil records are available here.
To view records in person for Sacramento County cases, go to the records office at the main courthouse on the first floor.
Sacramento County Court Records
720 9th Street, Room 101
Sacramento, California, 95814
Placer County
Placer County provides for some case viewing online. You can find the Placer County online case index here.
El Dorado County
El Dorado has a criminal and civil case index that give the parties of the case and the case number. The criminal case index is here and the civil case index is here. Viewing records must be done in person.The location to view records depends on the type of case. See the instructions here for viewing El Dorado County case records.
Yolo County
Yolo County case records can be viewed in person at the Main Courthouse between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Yolo County Main Courthouse
1000 Main Street
Woodland, CA 95695
San Joaquin County
San Joaquin County court records can be viewed online here. San Joaquin has an online form to request copies of records that can be found here.
Solano County
Solano County provides for limited case viewing online. You can find the Solano County online case index here. Solano County has a form for requesting copies of records from criminal cases that can be found here.
