Middle Tennessee Criminal Defense Attorney
Austin Tomlinson is a criminal defense attorney appearing in seven Middle Tennessee counties and the cities inside them. Every county runs its courts differently, and those differences are the reason these pages exist.
County Pages and City Pages Answer Different Questions
A county page is about court structure — which courts exist, how many divisions, which recovery and specialty courts, what the local rules say about deadlines and settings. A city page is about routing — which of two or three court systems is actually holding your case, how far away it is, and what that city's own court can and cannot do with a criminal charge.
Most people arrive needing the city answer first. If a Goodlettsville officer wrote your citation, the county line running through the city decides your courthouse, your jail and your prosecutor before anything else about the case is discussed. If a Mount Juliet officer wrote it, the local city court is not where a state charge is heard. Start with your city if it is listed, and the county page is one click from it.
Where Patriot Law Appears
These are the counties Austin appears in regularly, not the limits of where he will go. If your county is not here, call anyway and you will get a straight answer about whether this is the right firm for it.
Two cities sit in more than one county. Goodlettsville crosses the Davidson and Sumner line, and White House crosses the Sumner and Robertson line; both are listed once, under Sumner. On a criminal case that split is not a technicality, because the county where the offense happened decides the courthouse, the jail and the prosecutor.
Davidson County
Nashville and Davidson County are one consolidated government and one court system, so the county page is the Nashville page. The only county here with a separate Criminal Court rather than a criminal division of Circuit Court: six Criminal Court divisions, eleven in General Sessions, magistrates setting bond around the clock, and more specialty court doors than anywhere else in Middle Tennessee.
Cities
Williamson County
No separate Criminal Court. Felonies go to Circuit, split into Part I and Part II rather than by division, with two judges on each. A scheduling order sets a hard plea date at arraignment.
Rutherford County
The one county here where the arresting agency, not the city, decides the courthouse. Smyrna's court holds concurrent General Sessions jurisdiction over state criminal law inside the town limits. Four recovery courts, each with a different published gate.
Cities
Sumner County
A separate Criminal Court, a DUI Court that most counties here do not have, and a county whose own websites give two different addresses for the court that hears every felony. No Veterans Treatment Court.
Wilson County
The criminal courts and the jail sit within a block of each other in Lebanon. Wilson also runs its own grand jury cycle, selected on the second Monday in five named months while the rest of the district uses the first day of term.
Cities
Cheatham County
Four Circuit judges rotate through the county three months each, shared with Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Stewart. General Sessions hears criminal matters every Wednesday morning.
Cities
Smith County
Courts, both clerks, the Sheriff and the jail share one building on Justice Drive. General Sessions criminal sits every Thursday, and recovery court every Wednesday, which is remarkable for a county of 21,000. Three separate towns run three separate city courts, all of them ordinance-only.
Cities
What the Charge Pages Cover
Location pages are about where your case is heard. The charge pages are about what you are facing, statute by statute, including the Tennessee changes that took effect on July 1, 2026.
Veterans
Austin served in the Army before practicing law. Tennessee has no veterans-specific diversion statute, so what actually helps a veteran is knowing which counties run a Veterans Treatment Court and which do not. Davidson and Rutherford do. Sumner, Wilson, Cheatham and Smith do not.
Everything else
The full list of practice areas, plus the sitemap if you would rather see every page on the site in one place.
Questions About Where Your Case Is Heard
How do I know which county my case is in?
The offense location controls, not your home address and not where the officer's department is based. The court named on your citation or charging document is the fastest way to tell. This matters most in Goodlettsville, which sits in both Davidson and Sumner counties, and in White House, which sits in both Sumner and Robertson.
Should I read my city page or my county page?
Start with the city page if there is one. It answers the immediate question of which courthouse has your case and what the local city court can do with it. The county page goes deeper on court structure, recovery and specialty courts, and the local rules that govern settings and deadlines. Every city page links to its county page.
Do you take cases outside these seven counties?
These are the counties Austin appears in regularly, which is a different thing from a hard boundary. Call and ask. You will get a direct answer rather than a consultation that ends in a referral. The one place Austin says no in advance is the Robertson County side of White House, because that is a different judicial district with its own prosecutors and programs.
Which counties have a Veterans Treatment Court?
Of the counties on this page, Davidson and Rutherford run one. Sumner, Wilson, Cheatham and Smith do not, and neither does any other county in the 15th Judicial District. Williamson County runs one at the General Sessions level, established in September 2015. The veterans defense page covers what is available when a county has no veterans docket.
One Lawyer, Start to Finish
Austin Tomlinson served in the Army before practicing law, and he handles every case himself. Whichever county you are in, 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.
Read the Court Name First
The name of the court on your paperwork settles more than people expect, including what the worst outcome actually is.
Veteran-Owned
Austin served, and Patriot Law was built around defending people who did.