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Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-201

Burden of proof

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case State v. Hill (1997)

Most recently applied in State of Tennessee v. Fred Chad Clark, II (November 2014)

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 1030, § 3.

How often courts cite this section

199420002010201420
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) No person may be convicted of an offense unless each of the following is proven beyond a reasonable doubt: The conduct, circumstances surrounding the conduct, or a result of the conduct described in the definition of the offense;

(2) The culpable mental state required;

(3) The negation of any defense to an offense defined in this title if admissible evidence is introduced supporting the defense; and

(4) The offense was committed prior to the return of the formal charge.

(5) In the absence of the proof required by subsection (a), the innocence of the person is presumed.

(6) A person charged with an offense has no burden to prove innocence.

(7) Evidence produced at trial, whether presented on direct or cross-examination of state or defense witnesses, may be utilized by either party.

(8) No person may be convicted of an offense unless venue is proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

(9) If the issue is raised in defense, no person shall be convicted of an offense unless jurisdiction and the commission of the offense within the time period specified in title 40, chapter 2 are proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

Current official text: Tennessee Code (LexisNexis). Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Tennessee statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.