STATE OF TENNESSEE v. GEORGE HARRIS PATTERSON, III - Articles

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STATE OF TENNESSEE v. GEORGE HARRIS PATTERSON, III

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Mar 11, 2026

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1: Ellison M. Berryhill (on appeal); Kaylee Ann Kohlmaier and Jonathan F. Wing (at trial), Assistant Public Defenders, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, George Harris Patterson, III.

Attorneys 2: Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Glenn R. Funk, District Attorney General; and Derick Blakely, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.

Judge(s): EASTER

Defendant, George Harris Patterson, III, who was described at oral argument as a First Amendment Auditor, was indicted for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and assault on a first responder after an incident at a Davidson County Post Office. A jury found Defendant not guilty of resisting arrest but guilty of disorderly conduct and assault. Defendant appeals, raising several issues. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, the constitutionality of the disorderly conduct statute under the First Amendment as applied to him, the trial court’s failure to give a special jury instruction, the trial court’s admission of a piece of evidence and testimony from a postal employee, and the trial court’s failure to grant a mistrial. He also insists he is entitled to cumulative error relief. After a review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

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