Access St. Helena Parish District Court

St. Helena Parish District Court

St. Helena Parish is served by the Twenty-First Judicial District Court, commonly called the 21st JDC. The official 21st JDC site describes the district court as one of Louisiana's judicial districts and states that it has original jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters in Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa Parishes. The same court system handles district-court calendars, judge divisions, court programs, video-conference access, interpreter links, transcript requests, and the St. Helena courthouse route.

The local courthouse address is 369 Sitman Street, Greensburg, LA 70441. The 21st JDC source lists judge's chambers on the second floor. The Clerk of Court is also located at 369 Sitman Street #101 / Suite 101, which makes the courthouse and Clerk office the practical starting point for case records, copies, filings, traffic records, criminal records, civil records, and succession records. The Clerk's office does not provide public computer terminals, so records are located by indexes or request channels.

St. Helena Parish District Court List

St. Helena Parish does not have separate numbered county courts. It sits within the multi-parish 21st Judicial District Court. The official 21st JDC research lists divisions and judges, but the local records access point for St. Helena is the courthouse and Clerk in Greensburg. The table below uses the required court-list format while keeping the researched Louisiana structure intact.

21st JDC Divisions

The 21st JDC has multiple elected judges and divisions serving the three-parish district. Research identified Divisions A through F and I through L, plus hearing officers. Not every division page publishes a St. Helena-specific phone because the judges serve a district that includes Livingston, St. Helena, and Tangipahoa. Division assignment can matter for video conference, court dates, chambers contact, transcript requests, and calendar review.

• Division A, Judge Jeffrey Johnson.
• Division B, Judge Charlotte H. Foster.
• Division C, Judge Erika W. Sledge.
• Division D, Judge Brian K. Abels.
• Division E, Judge Brenda Bedsole Ricks.
• Division F, Judge William S. Dykes.
• Divisions I, J, K, and L include Judge Jenny Richardson Fore, Judge Jeffrey Cashe, Chief Judge Jeffery T. Oglesbee, and Judge Matthew S. Belser.

The court program navigation also lists hearing officers Hon. Patricia Hicks and Hon. Mary E. Heck Barrios.

St. Helena Parish Court Calendars

The 21st JDC calendar page is a key district court access point. It is not a full case search, but it helps identify court timing and case-setting categories. The research notes that the calendar page includes felony jury trial weeks, civil jury and bench trial weeks, traffic court, misdemeanors, juvenile court, felony motions, child support, civil motions, civil pre-trials, felony pre-trials, family matters, and arraignments. An inspected calendar page showed an update date in June 2026, so users should treat the live page as the current source.

The 21st JDC calendars page is one of the assigned image sources for the St. Helena Parish District Court page.

The calendar source helps show hearing categories, but full case-file details still come from the Clerk or court record.

District Court vs Lower Courts

Louisiana district courts are the general-jurisdiction trial courts. Lower courts, including justice of the peace, mayor's court, municipal-style ticket courts, and other limited courts, handle narrower local matters where authorized. A St. Helena citation, summons, or notice should be read carefully because the named court controls where to appear and where to request the record.

St. Helena Parish Case Flow

A District Court case moves through different steps depending on whether it is civil, criminal, family, succession, juvenile, or traffic. The Clerk receives filings and keeps indexes and case records. The court sets hearings, motions, trials, and orders. The district attorney and public defender may appear in criminal cases, while civil parties file petitions, answers, motions, and judgments.

Criminal flow: Arrest or summons › first appearance › bill of information or indictment › arraignment › pretrial hearings › plea or trial › disposition › sentencing › appeal.

Civil flow: Petition filed › service › answer or exception › motions › discovery › hearing or trial › judgment › appeal.

Traffic flow: Citation › payment or appearance decision › collections or hearing › disposition › possible OMV reporting.

St. Helena Parish Video Court

The 21st JDC supports video-conference access through division links and virtual waiting rooms. The 21st JDC video-conference page explains that users select the correct division link, enter their full name, and wait until admitted by the court. Video access does not mean every hearing is remote. A person should check the docket, division, and court instructions before assuming a remote appearance is allowed.

The video-conference source is assigned to the District Court page because it is a practical St. Helena hearing access channel.

Video-conference details are especially useful for confirming division entry and virtual waiting-room expectations.

St. Helena Parish Transcript Requests

Transcript requests use a different path from ordinary case-copy requests. The 21st JDC transcript request page lists the required information: case name, case or docket number, judge name, and hearing date or dates. A request that only says "I need a transcript" is not enough. The requester should identify the exact hearing and judge so the court reporter or court staff can locate the correct proceeding.

The transcript request source is assigned to show the data needed before asking for a St. Helena Parish District Court transcript.

Those transcript fields also help anyone searching District Court records gather enough case details before contacting the Clerk or court.

St. Helena Parish Appeals

Appeals from St. Helena Parish District Court judgments go to the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit. La. R.S. 13:312 places St. Helena in the First Circuit's third district with several nearby parishes. After the intermediate appeal, discretionary review may be sought in the Louisiana Supreme Court. Federal cases are separate and route through federal courts, not the parish District Court.