If you’re facing domestic violence charges in Tennessee, the starting point for most cases is a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Penalties climb quickly from there: a second conviction brings a mandatory 30 days behind bars, a third requires at least 90 consecutive days, and cases involving strangulation, a weapon, or serious injury move up to felony aggravated assault with prison time measured in years. A conviction also costs you the right to own a firearm, can end a military or law enforcement career, and can make a non-citizen deportable.
What Counts as Domestic Assault
Tennessee treats domestic assault as a regular assault committed against someone you have a domestic relationship with. The underlying assault can take three forms: intentionally or recklessly causing bodily injury, making someone reasonably fear they’re about to be physically harmed, or making physical contact that a reasonable person would find extremely offensive.1Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-101 – Assault No visible injury is needed. A shove, a slap, or cornering someone while screaming threats can all qualify.
What makes it “domestic” is the relationship. The statute covers current and former spouses, people who live together or used to, dating partners past or present, blood relatives, people related by marriage or former marriage, and the children of anyone in those categories.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-111 – Domestic Assault The definition reaches a wide range of household and intimate relationships, but it doesn’t extend to casual acquaintances or roommates with no romantic or family connection. If the relationship doesn’t fit, the charge is simple assault, not domestic.
Jail Time and Fines by Offense Level
First Offense
A first domestic assault that causes bodily injury or fear of imminent injury is a Class A misdemeanor. The maximum is 11 months and 29 days in jail and a fine up to $2,500. If the conduct involved only offensive contact without injury or fear of injury, the charge drops to a Class B misdemeanor, capped at six months and a $500 fine.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-111 – Domestic Assault Even on a first offense, the sentence often includes probation, a no-contact order, and a court-ordered batterer intervention program.
Second Offense
A second conviction carries a mandatory minimum of 30 consecutive days in jail that a judge cannot suspend. Fines run from $350 to $3,500.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-111 – Domestic Assault
Third or Subsequent Offense
A third or later conviction requires at least 90 consecutive days of incarceration, with fines between $1,100 and $5,000.2Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-13-111 – Domestic Assault The mandatory minimums apply to assaults involving bodily injury or fear of imminent injury. The ceiling for all misdemeanor domestic assault stays at 11 months and 29 days no matter how many priors are on the record.
When the Charge Becomes a Felony
Domestic violence becomes aggravated assault, a Class C felony, when it causes serious bodily injury, involves strangulation, or the offender uses a weapon.3Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-102 – Aggravated Assault Strangulation is treated as aggravated assault automatically, even without lasting visible injury. Prison for a Class C felony runs 3 to 15 years depending on criminal history, with first-time felony offenders in the 3-to-6-year range.4Justia Law. Tennessee Code 40-35-112 – Sentence Ranges The maximum fine for aggravated assault is $15,000.
What Happens After the Arrest
Officers responding to a domestic violence call can arrest without a warrant when they have probable cause. Before deciding who to take in, the officer is supposed to identify the primary aggressor by weighing the severity of each person’s injuries, the history between them, witness statements, who acted in self-defense, and who faces the greater risk of future harm.5Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-619 – Officer Response – Primary Aggressor – Factors That determination doesn’t bind a jury later, but it decides who spends the night in jail.
Once arrested, you cannot be released for at least 12 hours. A magistrate can shorten that window only after finding you’re not a threat to the alleged victim.6Justia. Tennessee Code 40-11-150 – Additional Factors in Determining Amount of Bail – Conditional Release Bail conditions almost always include a no-contact order barring any communication with the alleged victim, directly or through third parties. Breaking that order while out on bond can mean revocation and additional charges. Bail amounts rise with the severity of the alleged conduct and with prior history.
At arraignment, the formal charges are read, counsel is appointed if you can’t afford a lawyer, and you enter a plea.7Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. Rule 5 – Initial Appearance Before Magistrate No-contact conditions are usually continued at this stage.
Ways to Avoid a Conviction
Tennessee lets some first-time domestic assault defendants avoid a permanent conviction through judicial diversion. You plead guilty, but the court holds off entering the conviction while you complete conditions: a batterer intervention program, no new charges, compliance with any no-contact order. Finish successfully and the charge is dismissed. Eligibility generally requires no prior felonies or Class A misdemeanor convictions, and diversion is far less likely to be offered where there’s serious injury or any prior domestic violence history.
Certified batterer intervention programs run a minimum of 24 weekly sessions, each 90 minutes to two and a half hours. They typically cost $700 to $1,000 out of pocket. Failing to complete the program can trigger revocation of probation and imposition of the original jail sentence.
At trial, the prosecution must prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Common evidence includes 911 recordings, injury photographs, medical records, and testimony from the alleged victim and responding officers. Tennessee allows prior domestic violence convictions in as evidence, which weighs heavily with juries. Self-defense is available as a defense, and the officer’s primary-aggressor call at the scene doesn’t tie the jury’s hands.
Firearms, Military Service, and Law Enforcement Careers
A domestic violence conviction strips your gun rights at both the state and federal level. Tennessee law prohibits anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing firearms.8Justia Law. Tennessee Code 39-17-1307 – Unlawful Carrying or Possession of a Weapon The federal Lautenberg Amendment independently bars anyone with a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence conviction from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving any firearm or ammunition.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts It applies to misdemeanors and felonies alike.
The federal ban has no carve-out for military or law enforcement personnel. A soldier, police officer, or federal agent convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence loses the ability to carry a weapon on duty, which effectively ends the career. Military policy requires retrieval and suspension of firearm and ammunition access, and commanders can start administrative separation. The same conviction bars new applicants from entering military service at all.
A final order of protection also triggers firearm surrender. The respondent has 48 hours to transfer any firearms to someone legally allowed to possess them, turn them over to law enforcement, or leave them with a licensed dealer, and must give the court proof of compliance.10Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-605 – Ex Parte Protection Order – Hearing – Extension Failing to surrender can bring contempt charges and possible federal prosecution for illegal possession.
Immigration Consequences for Non-Citizens
Federal immigration law makes any non-citizen deportable if convicted of a “crime of domestic violence” against a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, co-parent, or someone similarly protected under state domestic violence laws.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens Stalking or child abuse convictions carry the same consequence. This reaches lawful permanent residents, and the conviction does not have to be a felony. A plea that looks like a good deal in criminal court can still cost a green card holder their status, so immigration advice before any plea is critical.
Federal Charges When State Lines Are Involved
If the alleged conduct crossed state lines, federal exposure dwarfs Tennessee’s misdemeanor penalties. Federal law makes it a crime to travel across state lines, or into Indian country, with intent to injure, harass, or intimidate a spouse or intimate partner and then to commit or attempt violence.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2261 – Interstate Domestic Violence Forcing a partner across state lines by coercion or fraud and then committing violence also triggers federal jurisdiction. Penalties scale with harm:
- Death of the victim: life imprisonment or any term of years
- Permanent disfigurement or life-threatening injury: up to 20 years
- Serious bodily injury or use of a dangerous weapon: up to 10 years
- All other cases: up to 5 years
Crossing state lines to violate a protection order is a separate federal offense carrying the same penalty structure.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2262 – Interstate Violation of Protection Order Federal prosecutors pursue these cases more often than many people expect, especially when a respondent follows a victim who relocated.
Violating an Order of Protection
If an order of protection has been entered against you, knowingly violating any provision is itself a Class A misdemeanor, carrying a fine of $100 to $2,500 and up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. If the violation happens while you’re already serving a sentence for a related offense, the jail time runs consecutively rather than concurrently.14Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-113 – Violation of an Order of Protection or Restraining Order That rule turns a single prohibited phone call into a new case stacked on top of whatever’s already pending.