Vermont Court Records

Vermont Court Record Lookup

Vermont VT court records are public documents and therefore available to anyone online by performing Vermont court records search. These documents are instrumental to executing a judge’s decision, whether collecting a judgement, entering a treatment program, reclaiming a suspended driver’s license, finding Vermont criminal records or establishing child custody.

Trial Court

Vermont’s judiciary was reorganized in 2010 under the state superior courts, or trial courts, which has a branch in each of the state’s 14 counties. Within the superior court are divisions tasked with family, probate, criminal, and civil proceedings, including child support in Vermont. Appeals of some cases are heard by panels of superior court judges.

Probate courts in Vermont have jurisdiction over vital records, emancipation, wills, estates, guardianships, adoptions, and similar issues.

Also within these Vermont courthouses are an environmental bureau and a judicial bureau. The judicial bureau handles civil violations charged by police including traffic, environmental, animal cruelty, alcohol and tobacco, and waste disposal. This court has statewide jurisdiction.

State Civil Records

Vermont court records online of civil cases are currently accessable through Vermont court case lookup. A request sent to the clerk of the court where the case was heard should yield official documents, except those restricted by confidentiality laws, including juvenile cases and those that name victims of certain crimes.

The superior courts deal with about 3,300 felony cases per year, including about 300 DUI cases each year. In these courts, the number of misdemeanor cases has fallen by about 3,000 over the past several years. In particular, drug-related offenses are down from nearly 1,300 to around 450 annually.

Appellate court

The state supreme court is the court of last resort, overseeing the state judiciary and hearing appeals of contested case decisions.

Federal court

Each state has at least one branch of U.S. District Court or federal court. This is where bankruptcy petitions, violations of federal law, multi-state lawsuits, and the like are settled. 

Vermont Notable Court Cases

In 2001, a man by the name of Michael Brillon was arrested in Vermont on charges of felony assault. He was appointed a public defender and sat waiting in jail for three years before he was convicted by a jury in 2004. During this three-year period, he was appointed a minimum of six different defenders, who left the case for a variety of reasons. Brillon fired some of them, others withdrew because he threatened their lives, and still others were released by the court.

The original trial court denied the motion to dismiss Brillon's case under claims to his right to a speedy trial, as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. Brillon's attorney appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court, which vacated his conviction and said the State did not afford him the speedy trial he had a right to. Vermont's Supreme Court stated in its opinion that the three-year wait for trial was "'extreme" and the factors of "'length of delay, reason for delay, defendant's assertion of his right and prejudice to the defendant" all pointed to violations of his rights. It went on to explain the delays were largely the fault of the State because they did not assign willing counsel during his incarceration.

In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Vermont Supreme Court decision, stating that the delays are not the sole fault of assigned counsel, but attributed to the defendant's wishes, citing Brillon's several continuances and delays at trial court due to his own disruptive behavior. There was a six-month period where he was not assigned counsel that could be attributed to the State, but the other two and a half years he did have counsel that acted on his behalf and were representing him as they were legally bound.