Jackson County Circuit Court Overview
The Circuit Court is the main court of general jurisdiction for Jackson County. It sits in the Jackson County Courts Building at 3104 Magnolia Street in Pascagoula, the county seat. Three elected judges preside: Calvin Taylor, Kathy Jackson, and Keith Miller. The court is a court of record, which means a court reporter captures testimony and the file can support a full appeal. Its docket leans heavy because it absorbs the most serious matters that arise across the Gulf Coast county.
Circuit Court jurisdiction covers felonies, civil actions over $75,000, certain misdemeanors, bastardy or paternity matters in some contexts, and appeals brought up from County Court. Cases are heard in four terms each year, beginning in January, April, July, and October. Each term runs about eight weeks, and proceedings are spread across courtrooms A, B, and C. The Circuit Clerk keeps the general docket, records pleas and indictments, and manages jury service for the court.
Knowing what the Circuit Court does, and what it does not do, is the first step in any Jackson County court records search. Divorce, custody, adoption, and estate files belong to Chancery Court. Small claims and most traffic citations sit in Justice Court. The Circuit Court is reserved for the cases that carry the highest stakes.
Jackson County Court Directory
Mississippi does not funnel every county case through one trial court. Jackson County instead spreads its work across the Circuit Court, Chancery Court, County Court, Justice Court, and four municipal courts. Each court has its own judges, location, and case types, so the directory below shows where a given record lives. Most state-level courts share the Pascagoula courthouse, while Justice and municipal courts operate from separate offices around the county.
| Court | Judges / Officials | Address | Phone | Case Types |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit Court | Calvin Taylor, Kathy Jackson, Keith Miller | 3104 Magnolia St, Pascagoula, MS 39567 | Circuit Clerk 228-769-3040; fax 228-769-3262 | Felonies, civil over $75,000, misdemeanors, bastardy, County Court appeals |
| Chancery Court | Mark Maples, Ashlee Cole, Neil Harris | 3104 Magnolia St, Pascagoula, MS 39567 | 228-769-1179; fax 228-769-3367 | Divorce, custody, adoption, alimony, estates, commitments, land and title |
| County Court | Mark Watts | 3104 Magnolia St, Pascagoula, MS 39567 | 228-769-3181; fax 228-769-3180 | Civil $3,500 to $200,000, misdemeanors, felony preliminaries, eminent domain, Youth Court, appeals |
| Justice Court (Main) | Matt Lachaussee, Terrance Packer, Jason Thornton, Danny Guice III | 1720 Telephone Road, Pascagoula, MS 39567 | Tickets 228-769-3096/3097; criminal 228-769-3080/3387; civil 228-769-3086 | Civil under $3,500, misdemeanors, felony preliminaries, citations |
| Justice Court (West) | Same Justice Court system | 6904 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 | Tickets 228-875-4125; criminal 228-875-4157; civil 228-875-4153 | West-office access to Justice Court functions |
| Pascagoula Municipal Court | City municipal judge | 603 Watts Ave, Pascagoula, MS 39568 | 228-762-1020; fax 228-938-6749 | City misdemeanors, ordinances, traffic, parking |
| Ocean Springs Municipal Court | Judge Monte Tynes | 3810 Bienville Blvd, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 | 228-875-5009; fax 228-230-1899 | Misdemeanors, ordinances, traffic, protective orders |
| Gautier Municipal Court | NeShondria Ellerby | 3329 Hwy 90, Gautier, MS | City court office | City offenses, fines, citations, bonds |
| Moss Point Municipal Court | City municipal judge | 4320 McInnis Ave, Moss Point, MS 39563 | 228-475-0300 | City misdemeanors, traffic, payments |
Official details for each court appear on the Jackson County courts directory, which links the Circuit, Chancery, County, and Justice Court pages. The county's Circuit Court page publishes the current judges, terms, and courtroom assignments.
Circuit Court vs County Court vs Justice Court
The three trial courts that handle most everyday Jackson County matters split their work mainly by dollar amount and seriousness. Circuit Court takes the largest civil disputes and all felony trials. County Court occupies the middle tier and also doubles as the Youth Court. Justice Court is the entry point for small claims, misdemeanors, and citations written by the sheriff or state agencies. The comparison below lays out where each line is drawn.
| Circuit Court | County Court | Justice Court | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Limit | Over $75,000 | $3,500 to $200,000 | Under $3,500 |
| Criminal Jurisdiction | Felony trials, some misdemeanors | Misdemeanors, felony preliminaries | Misdemeanors, felony preliminaries, citations |
| Family / Juvenile | No | Youth Court only | No |
| Appeals Heard | Appeals from County Court | Justice and municipal appeals | None |
| Court of Record | Yes | Yes | No |
Family law sits outside all three of these courts. Divorce, custody, adoption, and estate matters route to Chancery Court, Mississippi's equity court. The one juvenile exception is Youth Court, which operates as a confidential division of County Court for delinquency and child-welfare cases.
Note: Civil dollar thresholds overlap by design, so a mid-sized lawsuit can sometimes be filed in either County or Circuit Court depending on strategy.
How a Jackson County Case Moves
Cases follow predictable paths through the Jackson County system, and the route depends on whether the matter is criminal or civil. A felony often starts with an arrest and a preliminary hearing in Justice or County Court, then moves to the District Attorney and a grand jury before the Circuit Court takes the trial. Civil disputes filed in Circuit Court proceed through pleadings, discovery, and trial. Appeals from either track leave the county and go to the state appellate courts.
The diagram below traces both routes from start to appeal.
Criminal flow: Arrest › First Appearance (Justice / County Court) › Grand Jury Indictment › Circuit Court Arraignment › Pretrial › Trial › Sentencing › Appeal to Mississippi Court of Appeals
Civil flow: Complaint Filed › Answer › Discovery › Mediation › Trial › Judgment › Appeal to Mississippi Court of Appeals
Appeals do not stop at the intermediate level automatically. The Mississippi Court of Appeals hears cases assigned to it, while the Supreme Court of Mississippi is the court of last resort and can take or reassign appeals. County Court rulings, by contrast, are reviewed by the Circuit Court before they ever reach the appellate level. Anyone tracking these steps can pull docket entries for each filing through the Circuit Clerk and the state electronic court system.
Jackson County Circuit Court Divisions
The Circuit Court itself runs as a single law court rather than separate numbered divisions, but its work falls into clear criminal and civil tracks. On the criminal side, the court tries felonies prosecuted by the Nineteenth Judicial District Attorney, handles some misdemeanors brought up on appeal, and oversees sentencing, probation revocations, and post-conviction motions. Indigent defendants are represented by the county Public Defender from arraignment through trial. The three Circuit judges rotate the criminal and civil calendars across courtrooms A, B, and C during each eight-week term.
On the civil side, the court resolves personal-injury suits, contract disputes, and other actions above the $75,000 threshold, along with civil appeals from County Court and administrative appeals allowed by statute. Family and equity matters are deliberately absent here. Divorce, alimony, custody, guardianship, and estate administration all belong to Chancery Court, and the county routes those filings to a separate set of chancellors. That division of labor keeps the Circuit docket focused on the high-value civil and serious criminal cases the court is built to handle.
Nineteenth Circuit Court District
Jackson County sits in Mississippi's 19th Circuit Court District. The Nineteenth Judicial District also covers neighboring counties on the Gulf Coast, and its prosecuting attorney is District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, whose office files and tries felony charges in the Circuit Court. The three resident Circuit judges, Calvin Taylor, Kathy Jackson, and Keith Miller, are elected to serve the district and rotate through the Pascagoula courtrooms during each term.
Felony prosecution in the district follows a consistent path. The District Attorney presents charges to a grand jury, and an indictment brings the case onto the Circuit Court trial calendar. Records filed in these cases are kept by the Circuit Clerk and entered into Mississippi Electronic Courts, the statewide case-management system. Members of the public can review more about request channels through the Circuit Clerk, who serves as custodian of the general docket and the minute book.
Jackson County Lower Courts
Below the Circuit Court, three lower courts handle the high-volume matters that never reach a felony trial. County Court, presided over by Judge Mark Watts, hears civil actions between $3,500 and $200,000, misdemeanors, felony preliminary hearings, eminent domain, and appeals from Justice and municipal courts. It also serves as the county's Youth Court for delinquency and child-welfare cases, where records are confidential. County Court is a court of record with its own reporter, which is why its rulings can be appealed up to the Circuit Court.
The Justice Court is the local entry point for the smallest matters. It handles civil claims under $3,500, misdemeanors, felony preliminaries, and the citations written by the sheriff, Highway Patrol, constables, and state resource agencies. The court runs from a main office at 1720 Telephone Road in Pascagoula and a West Office in Ocean Springs. Municipal courts in Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Gautier, and Moss Point round out the system, handling city ordinance violations, parking, and local traffic tickets. To trace any of these case types across courts, start with the broader Jackson County court records overview.
Federal Court for Jackson County
Not every case involving a Jackson County resident is heard in the state Circuit Court. Federal crimes, federal civil-rights suits, maritime claims, and bankruptcy matters belong to the federal system, which is entirely separate from the county courts. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi covers Jackson County, and its electronic docket runs through CM/ECF and PACER.
The Southern District homepage links the public-access tools that federal filers and researchers use, including PACER for docket and case information. These federal records will not appear in the state Circuit Clerk's system, so a federal case must be searched through its own portal.
For Gulf Coast filings, the nearest federal courthouse is in Gulfport, as shown on the Southern District Gulfport courthouse page.
The Dan M. Russell, Jr. United States Courthouse in Gulfport hosts the Southern Division clerk's office and serves coastal counties including Jackson County. Filers route CM/ECF submissions there, while the state Circuit Court at Pascagoula remains the venue for county-level felonies and major civil cases.