(a) As used in this section, except as otherwise specifically indicated:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 40-7-120

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) “Citation” means a written order issued by a sheriff requiring a person accused of violating the law to appear in a designated court at a specified date and time. The order shall require the signature of the person to whom it is issued; and
(2) “Magistrate” means any state judicial officer, including the judge of a municipal court, having original trial jurisdiction over misdemeanors or felonies.
(b) A sheriff or sheriff’s designee may, at a county jail, issue a release citation to any person who has been arrested for a violation of law which is punishable as a misdemeanor and who has been booked and processed for that violation.
(c) The citation shall demand the person cited to appear in court at a stated time and place, and it shall state the name and address of the person cited, the name of the issuing sheriff and the offense charged. The time specified on the citation to appear shall be as fixed by the sheriff issuing the citation.
(d) The citation shall be executed in triplicate, the original to be delivered to the court specified in the citation, one (1) copy to be given to the person cited, and one (1) copy to be retained by the sheriff issuing the citation. The original citation delivered to the court shall be sworn to by the issuing sheriff before a magistrate or official lawfully assigned that duty by a magistrate. The person cited shall signify the person’s acceptance of the citation and the person’s agreement to appear in court as directed by signing the original citation.
(e) Whenever a release citation has been prepared, accepted and the original citation delivered to the court as provided in this section, the original citation delivered to the court shall constitute a complaint to which the person cited must answer, and neither the arresting officer nor the sheriff issuing the citation shall be required to file any other affidavit of complaint with the court.
(f) The signature of the person cited shall create a presumption of knowledge of notice to appear and a presumption of intent to violate this section if the person should not appear as required by the citation.
(g) The citation must give notice to the person cited that the person’s failure to appear as ordered is punishable as a separate misdemeanor offense. Each citation issued pursuant to this section must have printed on it in large, conspicuous block letters, the following:

NOTICE: FAILURE TO APPEAR IN COURT ON THE DATE ASSIGNED BY THIS CITATION WILL RESULT IN YOUR ARREST FOR A SEPARATE CRIMINAL OFFENSE WHICH IS PUNISHABLE BY A JAIL SENTENCE OF UP TO ELEVEN (11) MONTHS, TWENTY-NINE (29) DAYS AND/OR A FINE OF UP TO TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($2,500).

(h) Any person who intentionally, knowingly or willfully fails to appear in court on the date and time specified on the citation commits a separate misdemeanor offense, regardless of the disposition of the charge for which the person was originally arrested, and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail or workhouse for not more than eleven (11) months, twenty-nine (29) days, or by a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or, in the discretion of the court, by both imprisonment and fine. Proof that the defendant failed to appear when required constitutes prima facie evidence that the failure to appear is willful.
(i) If the person cited fails to appear in court on the date and time specified, the court may issue a bench warrant for the person’s arrest.
(j) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect a sheriff’s authority to conduct a lawful search even though the citation is issued after arrest.
(k) No citation shall be issued under this section if:

(1) The person arrested requires medical examination or medical care, or if the person is unable to care for the person’s own safety;
(2) A reasonable likelihood exists that the arrested person will fail to appear in court;
(3) The person demands to be taken immediately before a magistrate or refuses to sign the citation;
(4) The person arrested is so intoxicated that the person could pose a danger to the person’s own self or to others;
(5) There are one (1) or more outstanding arrest warrants for the person;
(6) There is a reasonable likelihood that the offense would continue or resume, or that persons or property would be endangered by the arrested person;
(7) The person arrested cannot or will not offer satisfactory evidence of identification, including the providing of a field-administered fingerprint or thumbprint which a peace officer may require to be affixed to any citation; and
(8) The prosecution of the offense for which the person was arrested, or of another offense, would thereby be jeopardized.
(l)This section governs all aspects of the issuance of release citations to an arrested person, notwithstanding any provision of Rule 3.5 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure to the contrary.
(m) No sheriff may issue a release citation as authorized in this section after the issuance of a mittimus.
(n) This section is intended to be in addition and supplemental to § 40-7-118, and shall not be construed to supersede that section as it existed on July 1, 1989.
(o) This section does not apply to any county having a metropolitan form of government with a population of more than four hundred seventy thousand (470,000), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census.
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