What you are actually facing

Tennessee publishes two different sets of numbers, and the difference between them trips up nearly every article written on the subject. T.C.A. § 40-35-111 sets the outer span for each offense class. What you are actually exposed to depends on your offender range under T.C.A. § 40-35-112.

• Class A felony: outer span 15 to 60 years, up to a $50,000 fine. A first-time offender sits in Range I, 15 to 25 years
• Class B felony: outer span 8 to 30 years, up to $25,000. Range I is 8 to 12 years
• Class C felony: outer span 3 to 15 years, up to $10,000. Range I is 3 to 6 years
• Class D felony: outer span 2 to 12 years, up to $5,000. Range I is 2 to 4 years
• Class E felony: outer span 1 to 6 years, up to $3,000. Range I is 1 to 2 years
• Misdemeanors: Class A up to 11 months 29 days and $2,500; Class B up to 6 months and $500; Class C up to 30 days and $50

So when you read that a Class C felony carries up to fifteen years, that is true only for a defendant classified in Range III. Range placement is driven by your prior record through the standard, multiple, persistent, and career offender provisions, and it is one of the first things we assess. Note also a Tennessee peculiarity worth knowing: misdemeanors here top out at eleven months and twenty-nine days, not a year, and felony fines are assessed by the jury.

DUI in Tennessee

Under T.C.A. § 55-10-401 it is unlawful to drive or be in physical control of a motor-driven vehicle while impaired by any intoxicant, or with a blood or breath alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more, or 0.04 percent in a commercial vehicle. The statute reaches public roads and highways and also the premises of any shopping center, trailer park, or apartment house complex, or any other premises generally frequented by the public at large. A parking lot is not a safe harbor, and you do not have to be driving.

The penalty ladder under T.C.A. § 55-10-402 carries mandatory minimum confinement at every step:

• First offense: 48 consecutive hours, or 7 consecutive days if the BAC was 0.15 percent or higher
• Second offense: 45 consecutive days
• Third offense: 120 consecutive days
• Fourth offense: a Class E felony, 150 consecutive days
• Fifth and sixth or subsequent offenses escalate to Class D and Class C felonies
• A child under eighteen in the vehicle adds a mandatory thirty days, served in addition to any other confinement. If the child suffers serious bodily injury the offense becomes a Class D felony punished as vehicular assault, and if the child is killed, a Class B felony punished as vehicular homicide by intoxication

Fines run from $350 to $1,500 on a first offense up to $3,000 to $15,000 on a fourth or subsequent, with an additional $1,000 where a child was in the vehicle. The minimum fine is mandatory and cannot be reduced or suspended unless the court finds the defendant indigent. License revocation runs one year on a first offense, two on a second, six on a third, and eight on a fourth or subsequent, with restricted license eligibility governed separately. On a second offense, treatment can substitute for part of the sentence after at least seventeen days served; on a third, after at least sixty-five.

New since January 1, 2026: refusing a blood test costs more

Tennessee’s implied consent law changed effective January 1, 2026. Anyone operating a vehicle in Tennessee is deemed to have consented to a breath test, and to a blood test in certain circumstances, where an officer has probable cause to believe the driver was operating while intoxicated.

• Refusal is a civil violation, not a crime. It is punished by license revocation, which may run consecutively to any revocation imposed on the DUI conviction itself
• Revocation for refusal has generally been one year for a first refusal with no DUI conviction in the preceding ten years, and two years where there is a prior conviction within ten years
• Under the 2026 change, a driver suspected of misdemeanor DUI, with no DUI, vehicular assault, or vehicular homicide conviction in the preceding ten years, who refuses a requested blood test faces a minimum revocation of eighteen months
• The same act authorized oral fluid (saliva) testing as a DUI testing method with results admissible at trial, and addressed the circumstances in which testing may proceed without consent, including under a search warrant or incident to a lawful arrest
• It also increased license revocation for vehicular assault from three to six years on a third conviction and from five to eight years on four or more

And one point clients get backwards constantly: refusing the test does not keep the refusal out of your trial. Under State v. Frasier, a refusal is admissible as evidence of guilt. Refusal is a decision with consequences in both directions, and it is worth understanding before you are standing on the roadside rather than after.

DUI cannot be diverted, and it cannot be expunged

This is the hardest conversation we have with first-time clients, because the assumption that a first offense can be made to disappear is almost universal. For DUI in Tennessee it is wrong.

The two are mutually exclusive and each is once in a lifetime. Having used one disqualifies you from the other, forever. That makes diversion on a minor charge a strategic decision rather than a free win, and it is one of the reasons it is worth having a lawyer on a charge that looks small.

Expungement: what can come off your record

Charges that end in dismissal, nolle prosequi, a no true bill, or a not-guilty verdict are expunged at no cost to the defendant. Convictions are a different matter, governed by T.C.A. § 40-32-101.

• Eligible: misdemeanors committed on or after November 1, 1989, unless on the exclusion list, which includes DUI, domestic assault, and stalking. Class E, D, and C felonies committed on or after that date are eligible only if listed on the inclusion list for that class, which is a recent expansion beyond Class E
• Waiting periods: five years after completion of the sentence for a misdemeanor or Class E felony, ten years for a Class C or D felony. All imprisonment, probation, and parole must be complete and all court costs paid
• How many: one conviction, or two from separate incidents, or multiple convictions arising from a single continuous criminal episode. Three or more convictions from separate criminal events in any jurisdiction disqualifies all Tennessee convictions, with narrow exceptions
• Process in Montgomery County: a $100 non-refundable fee, filed with the Circuit Court Clerk, with the conviction record, proof costs are paid, proof supervision conditions are met, and photo identification. The District Attorney reviews the petition and a hearing is typically set roughly sixty days out. The order goes to the TBI
• Not eligible: guilty traffic violations

The effect is substantial: a successful petitioner is restored to pre-arrest status, the conviction is treated as never having occurred, and collateral consequences generally may not be imposed or continued.

How a Montgomery County case actually moves

Montgomery County sits in the Nineteenth Judicial District, which it shares with Robertson County. All courts except City Court sit at the Montgomery County Courts Center, 2 Millennium Plaza in Clarksville. Clarksville City Court on Public Square handles city traffic citations and ordinance violations.

• Initial appearance. Under Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 5, a person arrested must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay. In a felony case you are not asked to plead. The magistrate advises you of the charge, your right to counsel including appointed counsel if you cannot afford one, your right to remain silent, release options, and your right to a preliminary hearing
• Preliminary hearing. Generally within fourteen days if you remain in custody, thirty days if you are released, measured from the initial appearance. This is where the State has to show enough to bind the case over, and where the defense first gets sworn testimony from the officer. It is not a formality
• Grand jury and indictment, then arraignment in Circuit Court, then trial. General Sessions handles the first appearance, bond, and the preliminary hearing in a felony case; Circuit Court takes it after indictment. General Sessions can also try a misdemeanor to final judgment where the defendant pleads guilty in writing or requests trial and expressly waives, in writing, indictment and a jury

One remedy worth knowing because it is real and underused: if the State obtains an indictment against a defendant who has not waived the preliminary hearing, the Circuit or Criminal Court must dismiss the indictment on a motion filed within thirty days of arraignment. The dismissal is without prejudice and the case returns to General Sessions for the hearing. That window is short, and it closes quietly.

Bond, and why “I cannot afford it” is not a factor

T.C.A. § 40-11-118(b) tells the magistrate what to consider in setting bail: length of residence in the community, employment status and work history and financial condition, family ties, reputation and character and mental condition, prior record and history of appearing in court, the nature of the offense and the apparent probability of conviction and likely sentence, juvenile and criminal records indicating risk to the community, responsible community members willing to vouch for the defendant, and other factors bearing on the risk of willful non-appearance including whether the defendant is lawfully present in Tennessee.

Read the second factor again. The statute directs the court to consider financial condition and then states that the defendant’s ability to pay shall not be considered. This is genuinely counterintuitive, it is frequently misstated, and it is why bond arguments in Tennessee are built around community ties and appearance history rather than hardship. A further detail: no person may vouch for more than two defendants at a time while charges or a forfeiture are outstanding.

A note on timing: Tennessee voters are deciding a constitutional amendment on bail in the November 2026 election. If adopted, it would allow a judge to deny bail outright, where the proof is evident or the presumption of guilt great, for a defined list of serious offenses, and would require judges to record their reasons for granting or denying bail in those cases. We are tracking the result and will update this page. If you are facing a bond hearing, ask us what the law is on the day of your hearing rather than relying on anything written before it.

If you are active duty

A civilian charge can carry consequences that no Tennessee judge imposes and no plea agreement controls. We will tell you what is settled and what is not.

What is settled. The Lautenberg Amendment, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), makes it a federal felony for a person convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess or receive firearms or ammunition. It applies to service members and there is no military exception. The Army implements it through AR 600-20, paragraph 4-23. It reaches both issued and privately owned weapons. A qualifying conviction requires, among other elements, a misdemeanor conviction involving the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, a qualifying domestic relationship, representation by counsel or a knowing waiver, and a jury trial or a knowing waiver of one. Article 15 nonjudicial punishment and summary courts-martial do not qualify.

Here is the Tennessee combination that matters, and every piece of it is in the statutes cited above. A Tennessee domestic assault conviction under T.C.A. § 39-13-111 is a prime Lautenberg candidate. Domestic assault is excluded from pretrial diversion. And domestic assault is on the expungement exclusion list. A career-ending firearms disability, no pretrial diversion, and no path to expungement, from a single misdemeanor. If you are a soldier charged with domestic assault, the charge itself is the emergency, not the sentence.

What is not settled, and we will not pretend otherwise. Arrests and convictions are reportable, a civilian conviction can be considered in a clearance adjudication, and that adjudication is a discretionary whole-person judgment by the adjudicating authority rather than an automatic consequence of any particular charge. Any firm that tells you a specific charge will or will not cost you your clearance is guessing. The same goes for promotion, reenlistment, and administrative separation outcomes, which turn on command decisions and current regulations. What is sound to say is this: you can face both civilian and military consequences for the same conduct, and your defense has to be built with both in view from the first week.

Questions we hear

I was arrested last night. What happens now?

You go before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, where bond is set and you are advised of your rights. In a felony case you will not be asked to plead. Your preliminary hearing should be set within fourteen days if you are held or thirty if you are released. Do not discuss the facts with anyone, including other inmates, before you have counsel.

How much will my bond be, and does it matter that I cannot afford it?

The amount turns on the statutory factors, particularly your ties to the community, your record of appearing in court, and the nature of the charge. Your ability to pay is expressly excluded by statute, which is why a bond argument has to be built on the factors the court is allowed to weigh.

Why does my case go through two different courts?

General Sessions handles your first appearance, bond, and the preliminary hearing. If the case is bound over and the grand jury indicts, it moves to Circuit Court for arraignment and trial. They are stages of one case, not two separate prosecutions.

Is a first-offense DUI really only forty-eight hours in jail?

Forty-eight consecutive hours is the mandatory minimum, and seven days if your BAC was 0.15 percent or higher. The rest of what a first DUI costs is the fine, the year without a license, the court costs, the insurance consequences, and a conviction that cannot be expunged.

I refused the breath test. Did that help me?

It is a civil violation rather than a crime, but it costs you your license for at least a year, that revocation can run consecutively to any revocation on the conviction, and the refusal is admissible against you at trial. As of January 1, 2026, refusing a blood test in a first misdemeanor DUI case carries a minimum eighteen-month revocation.

Can I get a DUI off my record in Tennessee?

No. DUI is on the misdemeanor exclusion list for expungement and it is excluded from both judicial and pretrial diversion. That is why the time to fight a DUI is before conviction.

My wife and I got into it and I was charged with domestic assault. Can I still carry a weapon at work?

That is exactly the right question to ask first, and it is the reason to call immediately. A conviction triggers a federal firearms prohibition that applies to service members with no military exception, and domestic assault is excluded from both pretrial diversion and expungement. How the charge is resolved is everything here.