Tennessee § 39-16-609 Failure to appear

Tennessee Statutes

§ 39-16-609 — Failure to appear

Tennessee § 39-16-609

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This text of Tennessee § 39-16-609 (Failure to appear) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-609 (2026).

Text

(a)It is unlawful for any person to knowingly fail to appear as directed by a lawful authority if the person:

(1)Has been lawfully issued a criminal summons pursuant to § 40-6-215 ;

(2)Has been lawfully commanded to appear for booking and processing pursuant to a criminal summons issued in accordance with § 40-6-215 ;

(3)Has been lawfully issued a citation in lieu of arrest under § 40-7-118 ;

(4)Has been lawfully released from custody, with or without bail, on condition of subsequent appearance at an official proceeding or penal institution at a specified time or place; or (5) Knowingly goes into hiding to avoid prosecution or court appearance.

(b)It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:

(1)The appearance is required by a probation and parole officer as an incident of

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(a) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly fail to appear as directed by a lawful authority if the person: (1) Has been lawfully issued a criminal summons pursuant to § 40-6-215 ; (2) Has been lawfully commanded to appear for booking and processing pursuant to a criminal summons issued in accordance with § 40-6-215 ; (3) Has been lawfully issued a citation in lieu of arrest under § 40-7-118 ; (4) Has been lawfully released from custody, with or without bail, on condition of subsequent appearance at an official proceeding or penal institution at a specified time or place; or (5) Knowingly goes into hiding to avoid prosecution or court appearance. (b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that: (1) The appearance is required by a probation and parole officer as an incident of probation or parole supervision; or (2) The person had a reasonable excuse for failure to appear at the specified time and place. (c) Nothing in this section shall apply to witnesses. (d) Failure to appear is a Class A misdemeanor. (e) Any sentence received for a violation of this section must be ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence received for the offense for which the defendant failed to appear. (f) [Deleted by 2019 amendment.]

Legislative History

Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 486,s 4, eff. 7/1/2019. Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 709, § 1; 1990, ch. 980, § 16; 1997, ch. 317, § 1; 1998, ch. 1049, § 15; 2004, ch. 727, § 1.