Kansas Court Records - How to Find and Obtain Courtroom Records in the State of Kansas

If you are interested in obtaining Kansas court records, the Kansas Judicial Branch website provides all the information you need. Kansas has an Open Records Act and the website provides a guide for requesting records. The guide provides a list of what records are available.

To request a record, you need to contact the records custodian, who may be the clerk of the court. You make be asked to send your request in writing and the records custodian will have a form for you to fill out. The request needs to be specific and have sufficient reasoning. You may be asked many specific questions to fulfill the request. Most requests will be granted within three business days or you will receive written explanation if the request is delayed or denied.

If you have any questions you can contact the local Freedom of Information Officer or Ron Keefover, the Kansas Judicial Branch of Freedom of Information Officer at:

Office of Judicial Administration Kansas Judicial Center 301 S.W. 10th Street Topeka, KS 66612

The fees for per page copies of the records are set locally. A per-hour fee may apply for time it takes the employee to search for the record or provide copies. The clerk of the district court can explain the current fees for copying and searching for records. If you request a readily accessible court index you will not be charged a fee. You may ask to examine a file in a court office, but you cannot remove the file.

If you request criminal records for employment, credit, etc. you will be referred to the executive branch agency that has the files.

There is a link the Request for Record Inspection of For a Copy, Record Request or Copy Delay Notice, Record Request or Copy Denial Notice forms. These forms are sufficient in submitting a request and are available for viewing, downloading, and printing in PDF, WordPerfect, or Rich Text Format.

Speeding Ticket Pleas - When Pleading Not Guilty to a Speeding Ticket Works

Whenever you get a speeding ticket or any traffic ticket, you have a couple of options on how to plead. Carefully consider your plea before making it.

What types of pleas can one make?

Guilty - A plea of guilty is saying that you in fact are guilty of the speeding ticket or violation and are subject to the fines and penalties.

Guilty with an explanation - This plea is used when you tell a judge that you did in fact speed, but you have a good reason for doing so. Essentially, you are giving an excuse as to why you are speeding, but it's really no different than a guilty plea. In rare circumstances the judge might reduce your violation considering your excuse.

NoloContender or No Contest - For a speeding ticket you aren't saying whether you did it or whether you didn't. Most of the time this will involve paying the fines as if you were guilty.

Not Guilty - This is used when you are wanting to fight the ticket. Pleading not guilty to a speeding ticket doesn't have to mean that you are innocent. It means that you don't feel you are guilty according to the wording of the law. This could be a challenge on how you were pulled over. For example the radar gun might not have been calibrated recently enough to make it acceptable in court. This could be a challenge to some circumstance that make you an exception or a variety of other reasons.

It's important to know the local laws so that you can find one way of proving how you didn't violate a certain point of that violation. That's all it takes to get your ticket thrown out.

Don't feel bad about defending yourself from a certain aspect of the law as it isn't treacherous or deceptive as it's your right to do so.