Municipal Court

Court Introduction

Missoula Municipal Court has jurisdiction of all misdemeanors and Missoula City Ordinance violations alleged to have occurred within Missoula city limits. Missoula Municipal Court has the largest volume of cases in the State of Montana, processing over 18,300 charges a year.

The Court is presided over by Missoula Municipal Judge Kathleen Jenks and Assistant Judges Sam Warren and Ethan Lerman.

Covid-19 Update – July 2nd, 2020

General Information – Subject to change

The Municipal Court is open to the public. Be aware you may experience delays and decreased services.

The court continues to offer services via telephone and video/teleconferencing means. Please call the court at 552-6180 if you do not understand how to proceed after reviewing the information provided below.

The number of persons allowed into our offices and courtrooms are limited by current social distancing practices to best protect the public and staff.

Wear a mask/facial covering both when entering City Hall and the court.

Do not enter City Hall if you are experiencing any signs of the COVID-19 illness.

Enter City Hall via the entrance on 435 Ryman St. The court is allowing one person at a time in the foyer, so please be prepared to stand or have a seat in the hallway.

A Court Clerk will determine what court business can be handled at the counter, via telephone, or if persons need to go before a Judge. If you wish to go before a Judge, please inform the clerk.

Please be prepared to provide the court a correct phone number, email address and mailing address when planning to attend any hearing in court.

Arraignments

The Municipal Court is following our standard courtroom scheduling, to include arraignment times.

Open court is now held on Mondays from 8:30am – 11:30am, Wednesdays from 1:00pm – 4:00pm and Fridays from 8:30am – 11:30am then resuming from 1:00pm – 4:00pm.

The court is allowing telephonic appearances. Please note that this does not apply to individuals with active WARRANTS. If you have had a warrant issued by the Court and are unable to resolve the matter with the Settlement Master, you are required to personally appear before a Judge to have the warrant quashed. You may also file a Motion requesting a telephonic appearance. If you file this type of Motion, a court clerk will inform you of the Judge’s Order after review of the Motion.

Please call (406) 552-6180 for information on how to appear for court and/or how to address an active warrant.

If you need to appear on a new traffic citation, you may be able to resolve your citation by going to CITEPAY (citepayusa.com) and paying your fine in full. All citations handled via CITEPAY will receive a 6 month deferred imposition of sentence. A deferred imposition of sentence means that in 6 months, if you have not had any other tickets and fines/fees are paid in full, you must call the Municipal Court Clerks and request the points be removed from your Montana driving record. The removal is not automatic; you must call the court after 6 months.

Telephonic Appearances with the Traffic Bureau Settlement Master are encouraged to limit courtroom traffic

Defendants wishing to plead not guilty or discuss their case (on an Initial Appearance) with a judge may, for many routine traffic offenses, see the Settlement Master instead.

Please call the Settlement Master at (406) 552-6127 to make arrangements to address your case via telephone.

Hearings

The only hearings the court is now continuing are court-ordered Continuances in response to a Motion to Continue.

Contested Hearings will NOT be held telephonically and parties will need to be personally present at the scheduled time.

If you have a scheduled hearing and/or are represented by an attorney, please contact your counsel regarding options for attending your hearing.

If you are representing yourself and have an upcoming scheduled hearing, you may contact the court to arrange an electronic or telephonic appearance.

Joining Meetings

The Court will set a meeting for each specific hearing-type calendared time block. You will receive a meeting invite from one of the following email accounts, depending in which courtroom your hearing is being held:

AdminC@ci.Missoula.mt.us or Admin2C@ci.missoula.mt.us

The invite is the same for joining telephonically or via Skype. The email will give the option to join both ways, and will look like this

Join by Phone: (406) 552-6799 (Missoula)

Conference ID: 610705

To Join via Skype for Business:

• Open Skype for Business

• Click the Blue “Join Online Meeting” link.

• Skype for Business will open a new window, click OK

  *Skype for Business will NOT work if*

• You have remoted into your work computer from another location

• Other reasons related to your own technology set up, apps, and internet connectivity.

  To Join Telephonically:

• Call the phone number provided in the invite

• You will be prompted to enter the Conference ID provided in the invitation

• Follow any additional prompts

  You will only receive an invite if you have a scheduled hearing within that specific hearing-type calendared time block.

  If you do not receive an invite when you believe you should have please contact judgeclerks@ci.missoula.mt.us.

  Once you have joined the meeting:

• Please mute your device until your case is called by the Judge

• Please be prepared to be on hold for extended time periods during these remote hearings. These wait times are necessary due to the high volume of cases being held via remote hearings.

  The Court will initiate the phone calls to connect with Defendants for each hearing.

  Attorneys: Please be prepared to provide the court all client contact information, in one email, prior to the scheduled hearings

  If you have any questions related to hearing settings and/or invites, please contact judgeclerks@ci.missoula.mt.us

  Payments

  Go online to: https://www.citepayusa.com.

• You will need your citation number or case/cause number and your date of birth.

  Mail payment to: Missoula Municipal Court at 435 Ryman St., Missoula, MT 59802.

• Please include your name and date of birth and, if known, case/cause number.

  Drop payment off at: Missoula Municipal Court drop box located to the left of the main doors of the Court.

• There are envelopes provided for the drop box.

• Please include your name and date of birth and, if known, case/cause number.

• The court will accept cash and will mail you a receipt, if requested.