Assault in Tennessee: Charges, Defenses, and Sentencing

Assault charges in Tennessee fall into three categories: simple assault, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail; aggravated assault, a felony carrying 2 to 15 years in prison depending on the class and the defendant’s prior record; and domestic assault, which uses the same conduct as simple assault but adds mandatory firearm surrender and other consequences tied to the relationship between the parties. Where a specific case lands depends on the harm inflicted, whether a weapon was used, and who the victim is. A conviction can strip firearm rights, limit employment, and leave a permanent record.

Simple Assault

Simple assault covers three types of conduct: intentionally or recklessly causing bodily injury, putting someone in reasonable fear of immediate injury, or making physical contact that a reasonable person would find extremely offensive or provocative.¹ This is the charge that most often comes out of bar fights, road rage incidents, and neighborhood disputes.

Causing bodily injury is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 11 months and 29 days in jail. The fine cap here is unusual: the assault statute itself sets a $15,000 maximum, overriding the general $2,500 Class A misdemeanor limit.¹ Threatening someone without injuring them is also a Class A misdemeanor but carries the standard $2,500 fine cap. Offensive contact with no injury drops to a Class B misdemeanor: up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.²

First-time defendants may qualify for judicial diversion or probation, either of which can keep the conviction off the record. Prior offenses or aggravating facts narrow those options considerably.

Aggravated Assault

The stakes jump at aggravated assault. A person commits it by intentionally or knowingly committing an assault that causes serious bodily injury, causes death, involves a deadly weapon, or involves strangulation or attempted strangulation.³ Reckless conduct causing serious injury, death, or involving a deadly weapon also qualifies, at a slightly lower felony grade.

Intentional or knowing aggravated assault is a Class C felony. Reckless aggravated assault is a Class D felony. Tennessee assigns a sentencing range based on the defendant’s criminal history:⁴

Class C felony: Range I offenders (minimal or no prior record) face 3 to 6 years. Range II offenders face 6 to 10 years. Range III offenders face 10 to 15 years.
Class D felony: Range I offenders face 2 to 4 years. Range II offenders face 4 to 8 years. Range III offenders face 8 to 12 years.

The aggravated assault statute also authorizes fines up to $15,000, separate from and on top of other authorized penalties. Strangling a pregnant victim elevates the charge to a Class B felony, and strangulation that causes the victim to lose consciousness can be prosecuted as attempted murder.³

Domestic Assault

Domestic assault applies when the victim and the accused share a specific relationship: current or former spouses, people who live or have lived together, people who are dating or have dated, blood relatives, and relatives by marriage or adoption.⁵ The underlying conduct is the same as simple assault, but the relationship triggers extra consequences.

A domestic assault conviction requires the defendant to surrender all firearms within 48 hours and file an affidavit confirming they have done so.⁵ Federal law adds a separate, lifelong ban on firearm possession for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Courts routinely issue protective orders that restrict contact with the victim and can affect custody and visitation. When the assault involves strangulation or causes serious bodily injury, the charge escalates to aggravated assault and carries the felony terms above.

Prosecutors typically pursue these cases even when the victim does not want to go forward. Officers responding to a domestic call are generally required to make an arrest when physical harm is evident, regardless of the victim’s wishes. After arrest in a domestic violence case, the defendant cannot be released within 12 hours. A magistrate can shorten that hold only after finding the defendant is not a threat to the victim.⁶

Self-Defense

Self-defense is one of the most important defenses in an assault case, and Tennessee’s version is broader than many people realize. A person who is not committing a felony or Class A misdemeanor and is somewhere they have a right to be has no duty to retreat before using force they reasonably believe is immediately necessary to protect against another’s unlawful force.⁷

Deadly force carries a higher standard. You can use force likely to cause death or serious bodily injury only when you reasonably believe you face imminent danger of death, serious bodily injury, or grave sexual abuse, that danger is real or honestly believed to be real, and that belief rests on reasonable grounds.⁷

Tennessee also recognizes a castle doctrine. A person using defensive force inside their home, business, or vehicle is presumed to have reasonably feared death or serious injury when the intruder unlawfully and forcibly entered. The presumption does not apply if the intruder is a lawful resident, a law enforcement officer acting in an official capacity, or if the defender was committing a felony at the time.⁷ Self-defense claims turn on the specific facts: who started the confrontation, whether the response was proportional, and whether the defender retreated all come into play at trial.

Sentencing and Restitution

Tennessee’s sentencing structure, set by the Criminal Sentencing Reform Act of 1989, assigns a range based on both the offense class and the defendant’s history.⁸ Defendants are classified as Range I (standard), Range II (multiple), or Range III (persistent), and each step widens the potential prison term.

For misdemeanor assault, judges can impose up to 11 months and 29 days for a Class A misdemeanor or up to six months for a Class B misdemeanor. Probation, community service, or anger management often substitutes for jail time in less serious cases.²

Felony assault sentencing depends heavily on prior record. A first-time defendant convicted of a Class C aggravated assault faces 3 to 6 years, while a defendant with a persistent history could face 10 to 15 years for the same offense. A Class D felony ranges from 2 to 4 years at Range I up to 8 to 12 years at Range III.⁴ Judges also weigh aggravating factors like the severity of the victim’s injuries and mitigating factors like cooperation or a clean record.

Courts can order restitution as a condition of probation. Restitution covers special damages, including medical bills and lost wages, as well as reasonable out-of-pocket costs the victim incurred cooperating with the investigation and prosecution. The court sets a payment schedule that cannot run past the maximum probation term. If the defendant fails to pay by the deadline, the victim can convert the remaining balance into a civil judgment and collect through civil court.⁹

Protective Orders

Victims of assault, particularly in domestic situations, can petition for an order of protection. A court can issue a temporary ex parte order immediately when the petitioner shows an immediate and present danger of abuse. That temporary order stays in effect until a hearing, which must be held within 15 days of service on the respondent.¹⁰

If the petitioner proves domestic abuse by a preponderance of the evidence at that hearing, the court can extend the order for up to one year, with further one-year extensions available through additional hearings.¹⁰ A protection order can prohibit the respondent from contacting the petitioner directly or indirectly, evict the respondent from a shared home or direct alternative housing for the petitioner, award temporary custody of children or set temporary visitation, order the respondent into counseling for violence, control issues, or substance abuse, and require the respondent to surrender all firearms within 48 hours with an affidavit confirming compliance.¹¹

Violating any part of a protection order is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a fine between $100 and $2,500. Any jail time imposed runs consecutively to the sentence for any related offense unless the judge specifically orders concurrent sentences.¹²

Diversion and Expungement

Judicial diversion is available for some defendants who have no prior felony conviction or Class A misdemeanor conviction with a served sentence, and who have never previously received diversion. With diversion, the court defers proceedings and places the defendant on probation. Completing all conditions leads to dismissal and, from there, expungement. Diversion is not available for sexual offenses, DUI, vehicular assault, or Class A or B felonies.¹³

Tennessee’s expungement laws were substantially reorganized in 2025. The main provisions for expunging dismissed charges moved to a new section, and the rules for expunging certain less serious convictions were placed in separate statutes. The core eligibility categories are similar to what they were, but the process now requires TBI certification before a court can enter an expungement order for a conviction.

Charges that were dismissed, resulted in a no true bill from a grand jury, or ended in a not guilty verdict can be expunged at no cost. Charges resolved through pretrial or judicial diversion are also eligible, though clerk fees apply.¹³ For conviction expungements of eligible less serious offenses, the filing fee is $100 paid to the clerk. Felony assault convictions are rarely eligible. Anyone considering expungement should verify current eligibility, since the 2025 reorganization changed both the statute numbers and the procedural steps.

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-101 – Assault
2
Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines for Misdemeanors and Felonies
3
Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-102 – Aggravated Assault
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Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-112 – Sentence Ranges
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Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-111 – Domestic Assault
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Justia. Tennessee Code 40-11-150 – Additional Factors in Determining Amount of Bail
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Justia. Tennessee Code 39-11-611 – Self-Defense
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-101 – Short Title
9
Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-304 – Civil Judgment for Nonpayment
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Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-605 – Ex Parte Protection Order – Hearing – Extension
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Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-606 – Scope of Protection Order
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Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-113 – Violation of an Order of Protection
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Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-313 – Probation – Conditions – Discharge and Dismissal – Expunction From Official Records – Fee