(a) Grave torture is the infliction of severe physical and mental pain and suffering upon the victim with the intent to perpetrate first degree murder, in violation of § 39-13-202, and accompanied by three (3) or more of the following:

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class A felony15 to 60 yearsup to $50,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
criminal case

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-13-117

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Coercion: means a threat, however communicated, to:
    (A) Commit any offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Defendant: means a person accused of an offense under this title and includes any person who aids or abets the commission of such offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Force: means compulsion by the use of physical power or violence and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) The defendant also commits against the victim the offense of especially aggravated rape, as defined in § 39-13-534; aggravated rape, as defined in § 39-13-502; especially aggravated rape of a child, as defined in § 39-13-535; or aggravated rape of a child, as defined in § 39-13-531;
(2) The defendant also commits the offense of kidnapping, as defined in § 39-13-303, or false imprisonment, as defined in § 39-13-302, against the victim;
(3) The defendant has, at the time of the commission of the offense, more than one (1) prior conviction for a sexual offense or a violent sexual offense, as those terms are defined in § 40-39-202;
(4) The defendant mutilates the victim during the commission of the offense;
(5) Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act, and the defendant is armed with a weapon or an article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon;
(6) The defendant’s commission of the offense involved more than one (1) victim; or
(7) The defendant knows or has reason to know that the victim is:

(A) Mentally defective;
(B) Mentally incapacitated;
(C) Physically helpless; or
(D) A vulnerable adult, as defined in § 39-15-501.
(b) Grave torture is a Class A felony and shall be punished as follows:

(1) If the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offense, then the sentence must be from Range III, as set forth in title 40, chapter 35; and
(2) If the defendant was an adult at the time of the commission of the offense, then the defendant shall be punished by:

(A) Imprisonment for life without possibility of parole; or
(B) Death; provided, that a punishment of death shall not be imposed until at least the thirtieth day following the occurrence of either of the following circumstances:

(i) The issuance of the judgment in a decision of the United States supreme court overruling, in whole or in relevant part, Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008), thereby allowing the use of the death penalty as punishment for an offense involving the infliction of severe physical and mental pain and suffering upon the victim with the intent to perpetrate first degree murder that does not result in the death of the victim; or
(ii) The ratification of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States approving the use of the death penalty as punishment for the conviction of an offense involving the infliction of severe physical and mental pain and suffering upon the victim with the intent to perpetrate first degree murder that does not result in the death of the victim.
(c) A person may not be convicted of both a violation of this section and a violation of § 39-13-534, § 39-13-535, § 39-13-502, or § 39-13-531 if the facts supporting the prosecution arise out of the same criminal conduct.
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