Nashville Criminal Defense Attorney for Davidson County
Austin Tomlinson is a Nashville criminal defense attorney appearing in Davidson County daily. Nashville and Davidson County are one consolidated government and one court system. Criminal cases run through the Birch Building, bond is set around the clock, and there are more specialty court doors here than anywhere else in Middle Tennessee.
How Criminal Cases Work in Davidson County
Davidson County is its own judicial district, the 20th. It is one of the few Middle Tennessee counties with a separate Criminal Court rather than a criminal division of Circuit Court, and that court has six divisions. General Sessions has eleven. Circuit Court here is civil and sits in a different building.
That structure matters more than it sounds. In Williamson and Cheatham counties a felony goes to a Circuit judge who also hears divorces. Sumner and Wilson keep separate criminal judges, as Davidson does. Here it goes to a judge who does nothing but criminal work, in a building that does nothing but criminal cases, before a bench that has seen your fact pattern many times.
| Court | What it handles |
|---|---|
| General Sessions Court, eleven divisions | Misdemeanors on a written waiver, preliminary hearings in felony cases, warrants, bond, traffic. The eleven judges rotate weekly between civil and criminal dockets, so the divisions are not fixed criminal courtrooms |
| Criminal Court, six divisions | Felonies and criminal jury trials after indictment |
| Circuit Court | Civil only in Davidson County. If someone tells you your criminal case is in Circuit Court here, they are describing another county |
Most cases start in General Sessions, and that court has a hard ceiling. Under § 40-1-109 it can enter final judgment only in a misdemeanor, and only where the defendant waives indictment, presentment, grand jury investigation and a jury trial in writing. A felony cannot be tried there at all. Section 40-3-101 allows a criminal charge to be answered only by presentment, indictment or impeachment, so at the General Sessions stage a felony gets a preliminary hearing and a bind-over rather than a trial.
Three things worth knowing. Not every case passes through General Sessions at all — a grand jury presentment or a direct indictment starts the case in the higher court, and someone arrested on an indictment has already skipped the stage this page describes. Waiving the preliminary hearing is not unilateral either: under § 40-10-114 the State can block a waiver by making a timely objection for good cause. And a felony can skip the grand jury by information under § 40-3-103, but only with the defendant's written waiver made in the presence of counsel, and only with the court's consent.
Which Court Has Your Case
Before anything else, work out which court is holding your case. In most of Middle Tennessee that means a city court and a county court in two different towns. Here it mostly does not.
| What you are charged with | Where it is heard |
|---|---|
| State criminal charge from Metro Nashville Police | Metro General Sessions, Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 2nd Ave. N. After indictment it moves to Criminal Court, six divisions, in the same building |
| State criminal charge from the Sheriff's Office or Tennessee Highway Patrol | The same place. On a state charge the agency does not change the courthouse in Davidson County, which is not true of every county around it. A city citation is a different matter — see the two rows below |
| Metro ordinance violation, traffic or environmental | Still Metro General Sessions. The court describes itself as hearing “civil, misdemeanor, felony, traffic, environmental, and metropolitan ordinance violations,” and runs Environmental Court as one of its specialty dockets |
| City citation from Belle Meade police | Belle Meade City Court, City Hall Courtroom, 4705 Harding Road. It sits Wednesday and Thursday once a month at 8:30 a.m. and hears traffic violations and other Belle Meade ordinances committed inside the city |
| City citation from Goodlettsville police | Goodlettsville City Court, either side of the county line. A state charge from Goodlettsville goes to Davidson or Sumner depending on where the offense happened — the Goodlettsville page covers that split |
| Bond, before any of the above | A magistrate at the Criminal Justice Center Annex, 440 3rd Ave. N., at any hour of any day |
Davidson County is the odd one out here, and in a way that helps. Everywhere else in this service area the first question is which building your case is in, because a city court and a county court sit in different towns. Nashville and Davidson County are one consolidated government, so the city-ticket layer and the state-charge layer are the same court, and there is no separate Nashville city court to be sent to by mistake. What complicates it is the satellite cities. Metro's own history of consolidation records that six incorporated communities — Berry Hill, Belle Meade, Oak Hill, Forest Hills, Goodlettsville and Lakewood — were allowed to keep their charters when metropolitan government began on April 1, 1963. Several still run a police department and a city court of their own: Belle Meade, Berry Hill and Goodlettsville each publish both. Forest Hills publishes a city judge and a court clerk but no police chief. Do not assume one of those courts cannot touch a state charge. Under § 16-18-302 a municipal court may exercise no jurisdiction beyond what that section allows, and concurrent General Sessions jurisdiction over state criminal law exists only where the statute preserves or confers it — but Belle Meade's own code, for one, authorizes its judge to hear “such violations of laws of the State of Tennessee as judges of city courts are, by law, authorized to hear and determine.” Which court actually holds your case is a question worth asking rather than assuming.
One more thing worth knowing: paying a citation is not a neutral administrative step. Some Tennessee cities print it on the citation in terms, that a violator who chooses to pay thereby pleads guilty. In others it operates as a forfeited cash appearance bond that lets you skip the court date. Either way the case ends against you rather than in your favor, and on a moving violation it reaches your driving record.
Where You Actually Go
Confirm your setting with the clerk before you travel. Court locations and docket days change, and the addresses below are current as of the date on this page rather than guaranteed forever.
| Where | What happens there |
|---|---|
| Justice A.A. Birch Building 408 2nd Ave. N., Nashville 37201 |
General Sessions criminal and all six Criminal Court divisions |
| Criminal Justice Center Annex 440 3rd Ave. N., Nashville 37219 |
Magistrates, sometimes called night court. Warrants, probable cause, bond |
| Downtown Detention Center 200 James Robertson Parkway, Nashville 37201 |
Run by the Sheriff's Office. Described by the county as the first stop for every arrestee in Davidson County |
| State Warrant and Bond Office 512 First Ave. N. |
Open 24 hours |
Recovery and Specialty Courts in Davidson County
These programs are demanding rather than easy, and admission is never automatic. They are worth asking about early, because several of them turn on facts that get decided during plea negotiations rather than after.
| Program | What is published about it |
|---|---|
| Drug Court | Criminal Court Division IV. Non-violent felony offenders. Residential track runs three phases of twelve weeks minimum plus six months aftercare; the outpatient track is twelve months minimum |
| Recovery Court | General Sessions, misdemeanor level. Published criteria: not a violent offender, substance abusing or chemically dependent, willing to participate. Excluded for a prior felon-in-possession or felony drug sale conviction, gang membership, holds or pending charges elsewhere, sex offense conviction or registry status, or parole or prison involvement within ten years |
| Veterans Treatment Court | General Sessions. Participation as a condition of probation or diversion. Covered in depth on the Davidson County veterans court page |
| Mental Health Court | General Sessions, with referral by form |
| C.A.R.E. Diversionary Court | Ages 18 to 30, non-sex offenses committed in Davidson County. Three to twelve months across five phases. The court publishes that participants who complete all of its requirements have their charges dismissed |
| Domestic Violence Court, Music City Community Court, Environmental Court and others | General Sessions runs an unusually deep bench of specialty dockets |
Eligibility criteria come from the courts' own published materials and from the state's treatment court roster. Programs change their criteria, and not every program publishes them, so treat this as the starting point for a conversation rather than as a decision.
Three Things About Nashville That Catch People Out
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Bond is set at any hour, by a magistrate
Five full-time judicial magistrates work rotating shifts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at the Annex on 3rd Avenue. They issue warrants, find probable cause and set bail. An arrest at 3 a.m. on a Sunday does not wait for Monday, which is good news and also means decisions get made before most people have called a lawyer.
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If you are released on bond conditions, there may be a next-day deadline
The General Sessions Domestic Violence Court runs a compliance program, TABS, for defendants under court-ordered bond conditions including GPS monitoring. Its published rule is that participants must appear in person at the TABS Compliance Office by 2:00 p.m. the next business day after release unless the court directs otherwise, and missing that appointment triggers a review of your bond conditions. People walk out of jail without registering that this clock has started.
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Criminal Court and Circuit Court are in different buildings
Criminal cases are at 408 2nd Avenue North. Circuit Court, which here is civil, is at the Metro Courthouse at 1 Public Square, a few blocks away. Showing up at the wrong one costs a morning, and on a docket call it can cost more than that.
What a Nashville Criminal Defense Attorney Handles in Davidson County
The charge pages below go through the Tennessee statutes in detail, including the 2026 changes that took effect on July 1. This page is about where your case is heard. Those pages are about what you are facing.
Cities in Davidson County
Nashville and Davidson County are one consolidated government and one court system, so this page is the Nashville page. Goodlettsville crosses the county line into Sumner and is listed there, though a Goodlettsville case on the Davidson side is heard in the courts described above.
Nearby counties
The judicial district
Davidson County is a single-county judicial district, the 20th. So are Williamson and Sumner. Rutherford shares the 16th with Cannon County.
Davidson County Questions
Is my Nashville case in Criminal Court or General Sessions?
Most cases start in General Sessions, though not all — a grand jury presentment or a direct indictment begins the case in Criminal Court and skips the sessions stage entirely. That court can enter final judgment on a misdemeanor, but only if you waive indictment, the grand jury and a jury trial in writing. A felony cannot be tried there at all. It gets a preliminary hearing, and on a finding of probable cause it goes to the grand jury, and only an indictment or presentment puts it in front of a Criminal Court judge. So the answer changes as the case moves, and the General Sessions stage is where most of the leverage is.
Where do I go for court?
For anything criminal, the Justice A.A. Birch Building at 408 2nd Avenue North. That is both General Sessions criminal and all six Criminal Court divisions. The Metro Courthouse on Public Square is Circuit Court, which in Davidson County handles civil cases, so it is almost certainly not where you are going.
How fast can someone get a bond set?
Davidson County keeps magistrates on duty around the clock at the Criminal Justice Center Annex, so a bond can be set at any hour. What it gets set at is a different question, and it is one worth having a lawyer involved in rather than accepting the first number.
Does Nashville have a DUI court?
Not as a standalone specialty court. Davidson County's General Sessions runs a Recovery Court, a Drug Court at the Criminal Court level, a Veterans Treatment Court, a Mental Health Court and several other specialty dockets, but no separate DUI court appears among them or on the state's treatment court roster. Neighboring Rutherford, Sumner and Williamson counties each do have one, which occasionally surprises people who assume Nashville has the most of everything.
One Lawyer, Start to Finish
Austin Tomlinson served in the Army before practicing law, and he handles every case himself. Hiring a Nashville criminal defense attorney here means the person who appears at your first setting is the person who knows the file at the end of it.
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It is usually enough to tell you what the realistic outcomes are and what has to happen first.
Call (615) 669-8312Local Procedure Is Half the Case
Docket days, rotations and deadlines vary by county, and missing one of them costs more than most people expect.
The First Setting Matters
Where a case starts in General Sessions, much of what can be done with it is decided there, before anything has been indicted.
Veteran-Owned
Austin served, and Patriot Law was built around defending people who did.