York County clerk of courts effectively cuts off free public access to criminal records The move runs afoul of both the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions and common law principles that require open courts, media law experts say. York Daily Record York County Clerk of Courts Dan Byrnes has effectively cut off the public’s ability to view criminal court records for free, a move that runs afoul of both the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions and common law principles that require open courts. In the past, there were two computers in the office, which is on the first floor of the York County Judicial Center. People could use them to look at documents — the clerk no longer has paper files — with a software called Laserfiche. The department removed them in recent years.