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Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-301

Arson

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case State v. Lewis (1997)

Most recently applied in United States v. Mitchell (November 2016)

Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1991, ch. 19, § 1; 1997, ch. 284, § 1; 2020, ch. 810, §§ 1, 2.

How often courts cite this section

199620002010201620
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 an offense who knowingly damages any structure or farm equipment by means of a fire or explosion: Without the consent of all persons who have a possessory, proprietary or security interest therein; or

(2) With intent to destroy or damage any structure to collect insurance for the damage or destruction or for any unlawful purpose.

(3) Arson is a Class C felony.

(4) Arson of a place of worship is a Class B felony.

(5) As used in this section: “Farm equipment” means any farm tractor as defined in § 55-1-104(a), farm implement designed to be operated with a farm tractor, and motorized farm machinery used in the commercial production of farm products or nursery stock; and

(6) “Place of worship” means any structure that is: Approved, or qualified to be approved, by the state board of equalization for property tax exemption pursuant to § 67-5-212, based on ownership and use of the structure by a religious institution; and

(7) Utilized on a regular basis by such religious institution as the site of congregational services, rites, or activities communally undertaken for the purpose of worship.

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.