Need to check a person out, do not want to pay a fee.

You could go online at the locak County site if they have a computer system that allows you to type in the person's first and last name to see what sort of arrest record they have with that particular county. Or you could call up the county clerk's office Criminal Division and ask them if the person has any criminal cases both past and present. You will need the person's birth date or year of birth in order to do that. It can be done. It's all public information. Or you can go in person to the Clerk's office and ask there as well. Don't bother going to the police dept unless you are asking about yourself as they won't give you the info if you don't have some sort of release from that person for the information. The Clerk's office is fair game as it is public information.

There is normally going to be a fee no matter where you go

Sorry, but depending on the type of background check you want, there will be a fee. The fee will differ depending on the type of check you do.

It depends on the location where the person has committed an offense as to what is available online, free or not.

There are a number of states and also a lot of counties in the U.S. where you can at least check the court docket listings at the state level about people without paying a fee. You would be able, in most cases, to see if there had been a warrant issued for their arrest, whether they had been arrested and subsequently convicted of something. But, please be aware, that they are only docket listings and might not be 100% correct nor up to date as far as reflecting what is happening with a case. To my knowledge, there are no free services available online for felony convictions.

Even if you use a paid service, you might not get anymore information than that which might be available for free.