(a) It is an offense to knowingly and unlawfully cause serious bodily injury to or kill a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse without the owner‘s effective consent.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class D felony2 to 12 yearsup to $5,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
criminal case

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-14-219

  • Animal: means a domesticated living creature or a wild creature previously captured. See Tennessee Code 39-14-201
  • Bodily injury: includes a cut, abrasion, bruise, burn or disfigurement, and physical pain or temporary illness or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Effective consent: means assent in fact, whether express or apparent, including assent by one legally authorized to act for another. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Owner: means a person, other than the defendant, who has possession of or any interest other than a mortgage, deed of trust or security interest in property, even though that possession or interest is unlawful and without whose consent the defendant has no authority to exert control over the property. 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
  • Property: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that involves:
    (A) A substantial risk of death. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
(b)

(1) An offense under subsection (a) is a Class D felony.
(2) If conduct that is in violation of this section is also a violation of § 39-14-205 or any other criminal offense, the offense may be prosecuted under any of the applicable statutes.
(c) A person is justified in killing or injuring the animal of another if the person acted under a reasonable belief that the animal was creating an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to that person or another or an imminent danger of death to an animal owned by or in the control of that person. A person is not justified in killing or injuring the animal of another if, at the time of the killing, the person is trespassing upon the property of the owner of the animal. The justification for killing or injuring the animal of another authorized by this subsection (c) does not apply to a person who, while engaging in or attempting to escape from criminal conduct, kills or injures a police dog that is acting in its official capacity. In that case, subsection (a) applies to the person.
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