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Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-101

Assault

Applied in 92 court decisions — leading case Johnson v. United States (2010)

Most recently applied in United States v. Russell (May 2025)

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 1030, § 11; 2002, ch. 649, § 1; 2009, ch. 412, § 1; 2010, ch. 981, § 2; 2013, ch. 325, §§ 1, 3; 2016, ch. 1052, § 1; 2018, ch. 925, § 1; 2020,…

How often courts cite this section

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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) A person commits assault who: Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;

(2) Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or

(3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

(4) Assault under: Subdivision (a)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by incarceration and a fine not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000);

(5) Subdivision (a)(2) is a Class A misdemeanor; and

(6) Subdivision (a)(3) is a Class B misdemeanor.

(7) Any conduct by an inmate against a correctional officer, guard, jailer, or other full-time employee of a penal institution, local jail, or workhouse, that would constitute an assault under subdivision (a)(1) shall be reported by the managing authority of the institution to the appropriate district attorney general for prosecution.

(8) In addition to any other punishment that may be imposed for a violation of this section, if the relationship between the defendant and the victim of the assault is such that the victim is a domestic abuse victim as defined in § 36-3-601, and if, as determined by the court, the defendant possesses the ability to pay a fine in an amount not in excess of two hundred dollars ($200), then the court shall impose a fine at the level of the defendant's ability to pay, but no less than one hundred dollars ($100) and not in excess of two hundred dollars ($200). The additional fine shall be paid to the clerk of the court imposing sentence, who shall transfer it to the state treasurer, who shall credit the fine to the general fund. All fines so credited to the general fund shall be subject to appropriation by the general assembly for the exclusive purpose of funding family violence shelters and shelter services. Such appropriation shall be in addition to any amount appropriated pursuant to § 67-4-411.

(9) For purposes of this section and § 39-13-102, “health care provider” means a person who is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized or permitted by the laws of this state to administer health care in the ordinary course of business in the practicing of a profession.

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.