Missouri CaseNet down following electrical failure

MISSOURI — Court systems around Missouri are at a standstill after what’s being called an electrical failure.

According to a Missouri Court System spokesperson, an electrical failure on Saturday damaged computer equipment at one of the Missouri Judiciary’s data centers. That caused various systems around the state to either be unavailable or have limited functionality, including Case.net and e-filing.

And it’s having a direct effect on our courts across the state.

Chris King, spokesman for the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, says the outage has delayed the court’s ability to announce or discuss new cases. The county courts are still open, according to John O’Sullivan, communications director for the St. Louis County Circuit Court, but they are having to work off of paper dockets. O’Sullivan says the 21st Circuit is still not up and running on Case.net.

Newton County prosecutor William Lynch says his office can transmit cases, but the courts cannot accept them within their system. Jasper County prosecutor Theresa Kenney says her office is having to send in-custody charges directly to the judge.

Barton and Vernon county courts have made the decision to cancel court for the rest of the week.

Communications counsel for the Missouri Supreme Court, Beth Riggert, says their first priority is to get the system up and running. She says they will investigate the cause after the system is restored.

IT staff from the Missouri Supreme Court’s State Courts Administrator’s Office should have functionality restored to Case.net and other affected systems within the next few days.

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