The county put up a sign telling people from Memphis to beware. It meant it.
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Fayette County is not keeping its position a secret. In January it put up billboards addressed to drivers coming in from Memphis, and the Sheriff and the District Attorney both stood behind the message. The stated reason was drug dealers and robbery suspects arriving from Shelby County.
Attorney William Young tries cases. Class A and Class B felonies to juries at the Shelby County Criminal Court, and he appears in Somerville regularly enough to know how that docket moves. Most charges out here resolve without a trial. The number you are offered still depends on whether the other side believes you have somebody who would take it to one.
Tell us the charge and which court has it. You get a call back from somebody who can tell you where the case goes next and what the first setting in Somerville actually involves.
Somebody will call you back. If court in Somerville is inside the next few days, or somebody is sitting in the jail, call (901) 578-1515 now instead of waiting on us.
Rather talk to somebody? Call (901) 578-1515.
Your Attorney
William Young · Of Counsel · Fayette County
Attorney William Young handles criminal defense in Fayette County and across West Tennessee. He tries Class A and Class B felonies to juries at the Shelby County Criminal Court and knows the rules of evidence cold, which matters more in a small courtroom than it does in a large one. His NHTSA certification in standardized field sobriety testing is the same one the officer on the roadside carries.
He appears in Somerville, Oakland, Rossville, Piperton, Gallaway and Moscow, which is most of the places a Fayette County charge can land.
Fayette orders of protection → · Fayette tickets → · About William Young →
What the County Says
That is not a paraphrase. It is the first line on a billboard the county put up in January.
“Criminals beware, you are in Fayette County. Land of jail and serious bail.”
Fayette County billboard, January 2026
Fayette was not alone. Tipton County put up the same message the same week, and a county across the Mississippi line had done it the month before. The District Attorney said the county prides itself on being a safe place to live, work and play, and intends to keep it that way. The Sheriff backed the campaign.
The reason officials gave was crime arriving from Memphis and Shelby County. If you live in Memphis and you picked up a charge in Fayette County, the sign is not about somebody else. Nothing on a billboard changes the law that applies to your case. It does tell you something about the room.
Bond gets set and the figure is the figure. Somebody posts it, or the person waits in Somerville while the case finds its way onto a docket. A bond that cannot be met works like no bond at all until it is argued down. Bail hearings and bond reduction →
The Other Side
People hear rural county and picture a sleepy prosecutor’s office with one overworked assistant. That is not what is sitting across the aisle in Somerville.
The lawyer who now runs the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Tennessee spent eleven years, from 2006 to 2017, as District Attorney General for this district. The former District Attorney General of Shelby County is special counsel in the same office, and was sworn in at the Circuit courtroom in Somerville.
Put that next to a county advertising serious bail and the picture is complete. The posture is aggressive and the office can back it up, which is the whole reason the attorney on your side of the table matters.
What We Handle
Misdemeanors and felonies both start in General Sessions. A felony that survives the preliminary hearing goes to the grand jury, and an indictment moves it to Circuit Court for the 25th Judicial District.
Highway 64 carries most of the traffic between Memphis and the rest of the state, and a fair share of this work comes off it. Attorney William Young is NHTSA certified in standardized field sobriety testing, which is the same certification the officer holds, and it is how he can tell when a test was given wrong. No DUI in Tennessee can ever be expunged. DUI defense →
Conditions of release can keep somebody out of their own home before anything is proved, and an order of protection frequently runs beside the criminal case on a separate docket in a separate building. Domestic assault → · Fayette orders of protection →
Simple possession and a felony weight are different cases with different exposure, and in a county built around a highway corridor the fight is usually about the stop that produced the search. Drug charges →
The dollar value sets the grade, and the grade decides whether this ends in General Sessions or in front of a grand jury. Theft and robbery →
A violation is decided on a lower standard than the charge that created the probation, which is why people who won the first case still lose the second one. Probation violations →
Whether it is an arrest warrant on a new charge or a bench warrant for missing a Somerville court date changes what can be done about it. Given what the county has advertised about bail, walking in alone to surrender is worth a phone call first. Warrants →
Speeding and CDL citations live on their own page, and so does the municipal court each agency reports to. Fayette County tickets →
Practical
Fayette County runs its courts out of two buildings about a mile apart, and the one you want depends on the case.
Bill G. Kelley Criminal Justice Complex, 705 Justice Drive, Somerville, TN 38068. The clerk is (901) 465-5205, and the same office handles Circuit Court.
Fayette County Courthouse, 16775 Highway 64, Suite 210, Somerville. The Clerk and Master is (901) 465-5219. No criminal case starts here, but it is the other courthouse people get sent to, and it is not the one on Justice Drive.
Both offices run Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The 25th Judicial District covers Fayette, Tipton, Lauderdale, Hardeman and McNairy counties, and the judges and prosecutors travel it. That shapes which days a Fayette docket sits and how much gets reached on any one of them.
Common Questions
"Criminals beware, you are in Fayette County. Land of jail and serious bail." The county put it up in January, the Sheriff and the District Attorney both backed the campaign, and the stated reason was drug dealers and robbery suspects arriving from Memphis and Shelby County. Tipton County posted the same message and a county across the Mississippi line had done it the month before.
Not legally. The law that applies to a charge in Fayette County is the same law that applied before the sign went up. What it tells you is the posture of the county you are walking into, and that bond is somewhere the county has chosen to make a point.
General Sessions Court at the Bill G. Kelley Criminal Justice Complex, 705 Justice Drive in Somerville. Felonies bound over go to the grand jury and then to Circuit Court for the 25th Judicial District. Chancery Court sits about a mile away at the Fayette County Courthouse on Highway 64, but criminal cases do not start there.
General Sessions and Circuit share a clerk at (901) 465-5205. The Chancery Clerk and Master is (901) 465-5219. Both offices are open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call before you drive out, because dockets move.
The 25th Judicial District covers Fayette, Tipton, Lauderdale, Hardeman and McNairy counties, and the judges and prosecutors ride it. That affects which days a Fayette docket sits and how much of it gets reached.
Yes, and underestimating them is a mistake people make. The lawyer who now runs the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Tennessee served as District Attorney General for this district from 2006 to 2017, and the former District Attorney General of Shelby County is special counsel in the same office, sworn in at the Circuit courtroom in Somerville. The 25th Judicial District covers Fayette, Tipton, Lauderdale, Hardeman and McNairy counties.
Not always. For many routine settings an attorney can appear without the client, which matters when the drive out of Memphis is most of a morning. Whether a particular setting requires you depends on the charge and the court.
Yes. He tries Class A and Class B felonies to juries at the Shelby County Criminal Court, and he appears in Somerville and the municipal courts across the county. Most Fayette charges resolve without a trial, and the offer you get still turns on whether the other side believes your attorney would try it.
Yes. Attorney William Young is NHTSA certified in standardized field sobriety testing, the same certification held by the officer who tested you. A DUI cannot be expunged in Tennessee under any circumstances, which is why the first week of a DUI case matters more than any week after it.
Find out first whether it is an arrest warrant on a new charge or a bench warrant for missing a court date, because the two are handled differently. Given what the county has said publicly about bail, surrendering without an attorney present is a decision worth making on a phone call rather than alone in a parking lot.
Somerville, Oakland, Rossville, Piperton, Gallaway and Moscow, along with the Sheriff and Tennessee Highway Patrol cases that go to General Sessions. The agency printed on your paperwork decides which of those courts has your case.
Free consultation. Call before your court date in Somerville, not the morning of.