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Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-11-503

Intoxication

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case State v. Phipps (1994)

Most recently applied in State of Tennessee v. Prince Adams (May 2013)

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

199320002010201310
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) Except as provided in subsection (c), intoxication itself is not a defense to prosecution for an offense. However, intoxication, whether voluntary or involuntary, is admissible in evidence, if it is relevant to negate a culpable mental state.

(2) If recklessness establishes an element of an offense and the person is unaware of a risk because of voluntary intoxication, the person's unawareness is immaterial in a prosecution for that offense.

(3) Intoxication itself does not constitute a mental disease or defect within the meaning of § 39-11-501. However, involuntary intoxication is a defense to prosecution, if, as a result of the involuntary intoxication, the person lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of the person's conduct or to conform that conduct to the requirements of the law allegedly violated.

(4) The following definitions apply in this part, unless the context clearly requires otherwise: “Intoxication” means disturbance of mental or physical capacity resulting from the introduction of any substance into the body;

(5) “Involuntary intoxication” means intoxication that is not voluntary; and

(6) “Voluntary intoxication” means intoxication caused by a substance that the person knowingly introduced into the person's body, the tendency of which to cause intoxication was known or ought to have been known.

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.