YouTuber and “citizen journalist” Lana Patrick has pleaded guilty to multiple charges after being arrested inside the Marshall County Courthouse in May 2024.
Patrick, a biological male who identifies as female, received a 180-day jail sentence, plus 305 days suspended, in August 2024 after he was found guilty of third-degree criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and obstructing government operations for refusing to stop videoing inside the Marshall County Revenue Commission’s Office.
Maintaining his innocence, Patrick filed an appeal, and his sentence was put on hold. However, on September 15, he agreed to plead guilty to all charges and received a suspended jail sentence of 485 days, along with two years of unsupervised probation.
On May 16, 2024, Patrick and fellow YouTuber Russell Pickron entered the courthouse in Guntersville with cameras rolling to perform a “First Amendment audit.”
After entering the Revenue office, Patrick and Pickron were confronted by staff and asked multiple times to leave the area. Refusing to do so, Patrick was arrested by a Marshall County Sheriff’s deputy.
According to the court order, Patrick must “refrain from similar criminal conduct." The first periodic review of the case is set for Feb. 17, 2026.
This wasn’t the first time Patrick was arrested or had issues with law enforcement. Patrick has made similar videos inside government buildings across Alabama and other Southern states for his YouTube channel, “J-Town Press.” He’s uploaded over 100 videos since he first filed his appeal.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that Lana Patrick pleaded guilty to all charges and received a 485 suspended jail sentence.
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