The Jefferson County Circuit Court is the

Kentucky Circuit Court The Kentucky Circuit Courts are the state courts of general jurisdiction in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Jurisdiction and bench The Circuit Courts are trial courts with original jurisdiction in cases involving capital offenses and other felonies; ...

with jurisdiction over Jefferson County Kentucky, which includes the city of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. It is the largest single unified

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

History

The

with jurisdiction over

Jefferson County, Kentucky Jefferson County is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 782,969. It is the most populous county in the commonwealth (with more than twice the population of second ranked ...

, includes the city of

. In 1991, the Family Court was established as a separate division of the Jefferson County Circuit Court, and is tasked with handling all family law matters. On January 1, 2021, Kentucky's first Business Court Docket was launched in Jefferson County Circuit providing a specialized forum for complex commercial cases.

Courthouses

* Jefferson County Judicial Center, Louisville

Administration

The Jefferson County Circuit Court has 13 separate divisions, with separate judges presiding over each division. Circuit Court judges serve terms of eight years. As of 2021, the Chief Judge was Angela McCormick Bisig. David L. Nicholson is the Circuit Court Clerk.

Officers

There are several officers of the court, including judges, jurors, mediators, master commissioners, prosecutors, defense attorneys, clerks and bailiffs.

Jurors

* Minimum requirements: 18 years or older, citizen of the United States, resident of Jefferson County, Kentucky, able to speak and understand English, not be convicted of a felony (unless pardoned or had rights restored), not be currently under indictment and not have served on a jury within the past 24 months. *

Judges

The Kentucky Court of Justice maintains a
official roster
of all circuit court judges, including the 13 judges of the Jefferson County Circuit Court. Notable judges have included: *

Irv Maze Irvin G. "Irv" Maze is an American lawyer who served as a judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 2012 to 2023. He is a former circuit court judge in Jefferson County, Kentucky (Louisville) and previously elected to three terms as county ...

Henry Luesing Brooks Henry Luesing Brooks (December 9, 1905 – December 30, 1971) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the W ...

* Lisabeth Tabor Hughes * Boyce F. Martin Jr. *

William E. McAnulty Jr. William Eugene McAnulty Jr. (October 9, 1947 – August 23, 2007) was an American attorney and judge in Louisville, Kentucky who became the first African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court. He served on every level court in Kentucky. ...

Master Commissioners

The master commissioner is a subordinate judicial officer elected by the judges of the court and granted limited power to hear and make decisions in certain types of legal matters, similar to a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

. The function of the master commissioner is to assist the Jefferson County Circuit Court in the discharge of its duties and the enforcement of its judgments, including conducting sales of property to satisfy liens, mortgages, or claims of ownership. Currently, the Master Commissioner is Carole C. Schneider.

Prosecutors

The Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney (referred to in most states as the District Attorney), Thomas B. Wine, prosecutes crimes before the court on behalf of Kentucky. The mission statement of the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney is "to promote public safety through the ethical, fair and just prosecution of criminal offenses; to advocate for justice for the victims of crimes; to safeguard the rule of law; to promote citizens’ confidence in the criminal justice system by treating all persons with fairness, dignity and respect, and to collaborate with all members of the criminal justice system to ensure the rights of all persons are respected."

Defense attorneys

The functions of the Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office are contracted to the Louisville and Jefferson County Public Defender Corporation, a 503(c)(3) non-profit organization. Daniel T. Goyotte served as the Chief Public Defender from 1982 to 2018. Currently, the Chief Public Defender of the Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office is Leo G. Smith.

Clerks

The Jefferson County Office of the Circuit Court Clerk is responsible for managing the courtrooms and other clerical courtroom activities, including serving as the custodian of all court records as maintaining the repository of fees, fines and court costs in the Jefferson County Circuit Court . The current Circuit Court Clerk is David L. Nicholson.

Bailiffs

The functions of the

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

are contracted to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, which is currently headed by Col. John Aubrey, Sheriff.

Notable cases

* ''

Batson v. Kentucky ''Batson v. Kentucky'', 476 U.S. 79 (1986), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court ruling that a prosecutor's use of a peremptory challenge in a criminal case—the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doin ...

'' *

Killing of Breonna Taylor Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing op ...

Shooting of David McAtee On June 1, 2020, David McAtee, a 53-year-old African-American man, was fatally shot by the Kentucky Army National Guard in Louisville during nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd and the killing of Breonna Taylor. The Louisv ...

References

{{reflist Kentucky law Circuit courts in the United States