Title 40, Criminal Procedure

Unless explicitly provided for in this part, nothing in this part shall be construed as repealing or amending any law dealing with the formation, function, duties and responsibilities of the regular grand jury.

(a) An indictment is an accusation in writing presented by the grand jury of the county charging a person with an indictable offense. (b) Wherever in this code “indictment” is used, it shall be taken to include presentment whenever the context so requires or will permit.

All felonies and all misdemeanors are indictable offenses.

No district attorney general shall prefer a bill of indictment to the grand jury without a prosecutor marked on the bill or indictment, unless otherwise expressly provided by law.

(1) A prosecutor is dispensed with and the district attorney general may file bills of indictment, officially, and without a prosecutor marked on the bill of indictment, in the following cases:(1) Upon a presentment;(2) Upon an inquest of willful homicide or murder;(3) Upon a rec…

An indictment cannot be found without the concurrence of at least twelve (12) grand jurors and, when so found, shall be endorsed a “true bill,” and the endorsement signed by the foreman.

If twelve (12) grand jurors do not concur in finding an indictment, the fact may be made known by endorsing the words “Not found” or other words of the same purport on the papers signed by the foreman.

It is the duty of the foreman of the grand jury to endorse on the indictment or, if it is a presentment, on the subpoena the names of the witnesses so sworn by the foreman and sign same officially, but the omission to endorse the names of those witnesses on the indictment or subp…

An indictment, when found by the grand jury and endorsed as prescribed by this part, shall be presented by the foreman to the clerk of the court who shall file the indictment as provided by law.

All indictments for public offenses of the grade of felony, returned into court by the grand jury with the endorsement a “true bill” shall be entered by the clerk with the return in full on the minutes of the court and the originals compared with the entry by the judge before the…

(a) A copy of the minutes shall be as good and valid as the originals if, at any time, the latter are lost, destroyed, misplaced or purloined. (b) In the absence of the entry provided for in § 40-13-109, the court may, in any of the contingencies mentioned in subsection (a), on p…

When an indictment is found against any person not in actual custody or who has not given bail to answer to the indictment, that indictment shall not be inspected by any person except the judge and clerk of the court and the district attorney general until the defendant has been …

(a) No judge, attorney, clerk, other officer of the court or grand juror shall disclose the fact of any indictment found until the defendant has been arrested or given bail for appearance to answer the indictment; however, nothing in this section shall preclude law enforcement fr…

An indictment must contain in the caption or body of the indictment, the name of the state, county and court; the term in and at which the indictment is preferred; and must conclude “against the peace and dignity of the state of Tennessee.”

The indictment must state the facts constituting the offense in ordinary and concise language, without prolixity or repetition, in a manner so as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is intended and with that degree of certainty which will enable the court, on …

The indictment must be certain as to the person charged; but when the person's name is unknown to the grand jury, it may be so alleged without further identification or the person may be indicted under any name by which the person is generally known.

Presumptions of law and matters of which judicial notice is taken need not be stated.

In an indictment for an offense which was indictable at common law, the offense may be charged or described substantially as at common law; or it will be sufficient to describe the offense according to the general rules laid down in this chapter.

(a) When the offense may be committed by different forms, by different means or with different intents, the forms, means or intents may be alleged in the same count in the alternative. (b) When an act is criminal, if producing different results, the differing results may be charg…

The time at which the offense was committed need not be stated in the indictment, but the offense may be alleged to have been committed on any day before the finding of the indictment, or generally before the finding of the indictment, unless the time is a material ingredient in …

It is not necessary for the indictment to allege where the offense was committed, but the proof shall show a state of facts bringing the offense within the jurisdiction of the county in which the indictment was preferred.

(a) When any property, upon or in relation to which the offense was committed:(1) Belongs to several partners or owners, it is sufficient to allege the ownership to be in any one (1) or more of those partners or owners; or(2) When the property is quasi public property, or belongs…

In pleading a judgment or other determination or proceeding before a court or officer, it is not necessary to state the facts conferring jurisdiction, but the judgment, determination or proceeding may be stated to have been duly given or made, but the facts required to give the j…

When an instrument which is the subject of an indictment has been destroyed or withheld by the act or procurement of the defendant, and the fact of the destruction or withholding is alleged in the indictment, and established on the trial, the misdescription of the instrument is i…

(a) In all prosecutions for offenses where the fraudulent possession or concealment of the thing constitutes the offense, it shall be sufficient to allege in the indictment that the party charged did fraudulently keep in possession or conceal the thing, without averring the parti…

(a) In an indictment for perjury or subornation of perjury, it is not necessary to set forth in the pleadings either:(1) Records or proceedings with which the oath is connected; or(2) The commission or authority of the court or person before whom the perjury was committed. (1) Re…

An indictment for libel need not set forth any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the party libeled of the defamatory matter upon which the indictment is founded, but it is sufficient to state generally that defamatory matter was published concerning th…

In indictments for fraudulently keeping in possession or concealing counterfeit money or bank notes, it is not necessary to aver in the indictment that the party charged intended to pass or impose the counterfeit money or bank notes on the community as good money, but it shall ap…

Indictments for conspiracy framed under title 39, chapter 12, part 1 shall not be held insufficient by reason of the general nature of the charges preferred or for embracing more than one (1) of the offenses in the same indictment.

(a) All laws made for the prevention, discouraging or suppression of gaming shall be construed as remedial and not penal statutes and no presentment or indictment in such case shall be quashed for want of form. (b) In presentments and indictments for gaming, it is sufficient to c…

In all prosecutions for dealing in futures, no prosecutor shall be required and it is sufficient to charge that the defendant did game, wager or deal in futures, without setting forth with whom the defendant dealt, but the indictment or presentment shall charge a violation of som…

(a) In the prosecution for the purchase of intoxicating liquor in violation of title 39, chapter 17, part 7, it shall not be necessary to allege in the indictment or presentment or to prove the name of the person from whom the intoxicating liquors were bought. (b) It shall not be…

The indictment for the offense of unlawfully and willfully digging open a grave, or unlawfully and willfully taking up or carrying away the dead body, or any part of the body, need not specify what grave or whose dead body has been violated or disturbed.

Any indictment charging a felonious taking or appropriation of the personal property of another, of any value, with intent to convert the property to the use of the defendant and to deprive the true owner of the property, shall be deemed a good and sufficient indictment for embez…

(a) When a defendant is indicted for more than one (1) offense of the same class or grade, at the same term of the court, the clerk shall issue but one (1) capias to the same county, which shall specify on its face the number of cases for which the defendant or defendants are ind…

(a) Upon arrest made on a capias, if the offense is bailable, bail may be taken in the manner prescribed in chapter 11, part 1 of this title. (b) After a defendant is committed to jail under a capias, if the offense is bailable, the defendant may be discharged upon giving bail as…

(a) If served by an officer not of the county to which it is returnable, the return may be made by depositing the capias in any post office, sealed up, directed to the clerk of the court at the courthouse of the originating county with the title of the case endorsed on the envelo…

Any sheriff failing to execute the capias, from want of due diligence, commits a Class C misdemeanor.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused is entitled to a speedy trial and to be heard in person and by counsel.

Every person accused of any crime or misdemeanor whatsoever is entitled to counsel in all matters necessary for the person's defense, as well to facts as to law.

(a) If unable to employ counsel, the defendant is entitled to have counsel appointed by the court. (b) (1) A defendant, who is provided with court-appointed counsel, including a defendant in a termination of parental rights case, shall be assessed by the court at the time of appo…

The defendant's spouse and counsel, whether the counsel is employed by the defendant or appointed by the court, shall be allowed access to the defendant at all reasonable hours.

Every person accused of any crime or misdemeanor whatsoever shall be entitled to fourteen (14) full days, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, after arrest and the return of the indictment or presentment before being tried for the offense.

Every person accused of any offense for which the punishment may be death shall be entitled to twenty-one (21) full days, Sundays and legal holidays excluded, after arrest and the return of the indictment or presentment before being tried for the offense.

(a) This section and §§ 40-14-105 and 40-14-106 only apply to criminal cases in a court of record. (b) Nothing in this section, § 40-14-105 or § 40-14-106 shall prevent any person so indicted or presented from waiving this section, § 40-14-105 or § 40-14-106. (c) This section and…

A continuance because of too great excitement to the prejudice of the defendant shall be in the sound discretion of the court.