Attorney William Young, Every Court in Fayette County. No Appearance Needed.
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Fayette County Speeding Ticket Attorney
Fayette County is one of the most actively policed corridors in West Tennessee. Highway 64, the main artery connecting Memphis to the rest of the state, runs straight through the county, and the towns along it are well known for aggressive traffic enforcement. Speed limits change frequently and with little warning. The Tennessee Highway Patrol works the entire county. Municipal police departments in Oakland, Somerville, Piperton, and Moscow pull drivers over for two or three miles over the posted limit.
Most people who get a ticket in Fayette County have never been to court there. They don't know which court has their case, how that court operates, or what the realistic options are. Paying the ticket is the easiest thing to do, and the most expensive in the long run. Points go on your license. Your insurance rates go up. And if you have a CDL, the consequences are even more serious.
Attorney William Young has handled too many Fayette County tickets to count. He knows every court in the county, every jurisdiction's procedures, and what it takes to get a ticket resolved without points, without a conviction, and without you having to drive to Somerville.
Practical
Look at the citation. The agency that wrote it determines where your case goes.
Somerville City Court sitting in a theatre catches people out every year. The clerk’s office and the courtroom are different addresses.
Your Attorney
Of Counsel · Tennessee Bar · Practicing Since 2011
Attorney William Young represents clients throughout Fayette County and the surrounding West Tennessee region. He has appeared in Fayette County General Sessions Court, Oakland Municipal Court, Somerville Municipal Court, Piperton Municipal Court, Moscow Municipal Court, and the other courts where Fayette County tickets are handled, and he knows the specific procedures, prosecutors, and judges in each one.
Every jurisdiction in Fayette County is different. What works in one court doesn't necessarily work in another. The attorney you hire should know the difference, and Will does.
Know Your Court
Your ticket ends up in a specific court depending on which agency wrote it. This matters because each court has its own clerk, its own prosecutors, its own judge, and its own policies.
All Tennessee Highway Patrol citations issued anywhere in Fayette County go to General Sessions Court. So do all Fayette County Sheriff's Office citations, criminal misdemeanor citations, and misdemeanor and felony arrests occurring in the county. The THP is the most active issuing agency in Fayette County, they likely write more tickets than all the municipal departments combined.
Citations issued by the Oakland Police Department are handled in Oakland's own municipal court. Oakland is one of the best-known speed traps in the area, eastbound Highway 64 from the Shelby County line into Oakland has numerous arbitrary speed limit changes that catch drivers regularly.
Citations issued by the Somerville Police Department are handled in Somerville. There is a notable speed reduction as you approach Somerville on Highway 64 that generates frequent citations.
Citations issued by the Moscow Police Department are handled at Moscow Municipal Court, located at 14075 Highway 57, Moscow, TN 38057, before Judge David Douglas. Moscow aggressively polices traffic speeds on Highway 57.
Citations issued by the Piperton Police Department are handled in Piperton's own municipal court. Piperton is known for pulling drivers over for very small speed differentials. More on Piperton tickets →
Citations issued by the Rossville Police Department are handled in Rossville’s own municipal court, at Town Hall, 360 Morrison Road. It hears traffic and town code cases on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. Court costs run around $106.
Rossville sits in southwest Fayette County, bordered by Piperton to the west and the Mississippi state line to the south. About a thousand people live there, and it is easy to drive through without registering that you have entered a separate municipality.
Worth knowing: Rossville’s court warns that failing to appear or pay results in a judgment against you with additional costs, notification to the Tennessee Department of Safety to begin suspending your license, and referral of the citation to a collection agency.
Citations issued by the Gallaway Police Department are handled in Gallaway’s own municipal court. City Hall is at 333 Old Brownsville Road.
Gallaway is an incorporated city of roughly 528 people. Small does not mean informal. A city of a few hundred can maintain a police department, write citations, and hold court on them, and it does.
CDL Holders
If you hold a commercial driver's license, a Fayette County speeding ticket is a fundamentally different problem than it is for a regular driver. Federal law prohibits prosecutors and judges from masking a moving violation on a CDL holder's record. Masking means hiding or concealing a conviction, and that prohibition specifically includes allowing a CDL holder to attend driving school in exchange for a dismissal. That option, which is available to regular drivers in many jurisdictions, is off the table for CDL holders.
CDL holders generally need to either beat the ticket at trial or have it dismissed on a legal defect or technicality. That requires an attorney who knows the specific court, the specific officer's habits, and what arguments are likely to succeed in that jurisdiction. Attorney fees for CDL tickets in Fayette County are higher than standard ticket fees, because the work required is significantly more involved.
Common Questions
It depends on who stopped you. A sheriff or highway patrol citation goes to Fayette County General Sessions at the Bill G. Kelley Criminal Justice Complex, 705 Justice Drive in Somerville. A Somerville Police citation goes to Somerville City Court.
The clerk's office is at City Hall, 13085 North Main Street, but court itself is held at the Fair Theatre, 114 East Market Street. The clerk is (901) 465-7301. People show up at the wrong address every year.
If you don't have an attorney, yes, even for a traffic citation, your personal appearance is generally required in Fayette County courts. When you hire an attorney, they can appear on your behalf, waive your appearance, and negotiate a disposition without you ever setting foot in court. In some cases an attorney can even conduct a trial on your behalf without your appearance, or arrange for you to appear virtually, if the court agrees in advance. Hiring an attorney generally means you don't have to go to court at all.
It depends on who wrote the ticket. Tennessee Highway Patrol citations and Fayette County Sheriff's Office citations go to Fayette County General Sessions Court. Each incorporated town has its own municipal court: Somerville, Oakland, Moscow, Piperton, and Rossville all have their own police departments and their own courts. Knowing which court has jurisdiction over your ticket, and knowing that court's specific procedures, prosecutors, and judges, is one of the most important reasons to hire an attorney familiar with Fayette County.
Oakland is a well-known speed trap. Eastbound Highway 64 from the Shelby County line into Oakland has numerous arbitrary speed changes that catch drivers off guard. There is another significant speed reduction right as you approach Somerville. Piperton and Moscow both aggressively police traffic speeds and will pull drivers over for two or three miles per hour over the posted limit. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is also active throughout the county and issues more citations than most individual municipal departments, possibly more than all of them combined.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol issues citations throughout all of Fayette County, and all THP citations end up in Fayette County General Sessions Court. The THP likely issues more citations than any individual municipal police department in the county, and possibly more than all of them combined. Each incorporated town also has its own police department that issues citations handled by that town's municipal court.
No. Federal law prohibits prosecutors and judges from masking a moving violation for a commercially licensed driver. Masking means hiding or concealing a conviction from the CDL holder's driving record, and allowing a CDL holder to attend driving school in exchange for a dismissal is specifically prohibited. CDL holders generally need to either beat the ticket at trial or have it dismissed on a legal defect or technicality. This is why CDL ticket defense in Fayette County requires an attorney who knows these courts, and why attorney fees for CDL tickets are higher than standard ticket fees.
The goal in almost every case is to ensure the driver receives no points on their license and does not have to appear in court or attend driving school. Whether that happens through a dismissal or a reduction depends on the jurisdiction, the officer, the specific facts, and the attorney's familiarity with that court's procedures and prosecutors. Each municipality in Fayette County has its own policies, Oakland handles things differently than Somerville, and Somerville handles things differently than General Sessions. Knowing those differences is the value an experienced Fayette County traffic attorney brings.
Yes, especially if you have a CDL, if the ticket carries significant points, if it could affect your insurance rates, or if you simply do not want to appear in court. The attorney fee for a speeding ticket is typically far less than the long-term cost of points on your license and increased insurance premiums. And with an attorney, you generally don't have to appear in court at all, which means no time off work, no drive to Somerville, and no waiting in a courthouse you've never been to.
Significantly. Every jurisdiction in Fayette County has its own court clerk, its own prosecutors, its own judges, and its own rules and policies. An attorney who handles cases in Memphis every day but has never been in Oakland Municipal Court or Fayette County General Sessions is not the same as one who knows those courts. When shopping for an attorney to handle a Fayette County ticket, the most important question is whether they are familiar with the specific jurisdiction where your ticket is being handled.
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