Tennessee § 39-11-611 - Self-defense.

§ 39-11-611. Self-defense.

As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: “Business” means a commercial enterprise or establishment owned by a person as all or part of the person's livelihood or is under the owner's control or who is an employee or agent of the owner with responsibility for protecting persons and property and shall include the interior and exterior premises of the business; “Category I nuclear facility” means a facility that possesses a formula quantity of strategic special nuclear material, as defined and licensed by the United States nuclear regulatory commission, and that must comply with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 73; “Curtilage” means the area surrounding a dwelling that is necessary, convenient and habitually used for family purposes and for those activities associated with the sanctity of a person's home; “Deadly force” means the use of force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury; “Dwelling” means a building or conveyance of any kind, including any attached porch, whether the building or conveyance is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, that has a roof over it, including a tent, and is designed for or capable of use by people; “Nuclear power reactor facility” means a reactor designed to produce heat for electric generation, for producing radiation or fissionable materials, or for reactor component testing, and does not include a reactor used for research purposes; “Nuclear security officer” means a person who meets the requirements of 10 CFR Part 73, Appendix B, who is an employee or an employee of a contractor of the owner of a category I nuclear facility or nuclear power reactor facility, and who has been appointed or designated by the owner of a category I nuclear facility or nuclear power reactor facility to provide security for the facility; “Residence” means a dwelling in which a person resides, either temporarily or permanently, or is visiting as an invited guest, or any dwelling, building or other appurtenance within the curtilage of the residence; and “Vehicle” means any motorized vehicle that is self-propelled and designed for use on public highways to transport people or property. Notwithstanding § 39-17-1322, a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and is in a place where the person has a right to be has no duty to retreat before threatening or using force against another person when and to the degree the person reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force. Notwithstanding § 39-17-1322, a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and is in a place where the person has a right to be has no duty to retreat before threatening or using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, if: The person has a reasonable belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury; The danger creating the belief of imminent death or serious bodily injury is real, or honestly believed to be real at the time; and The belief of danger is founded upon reasonable grounds. Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury within a residence, business, dwelling or vehicle is presumed to have held a reasonable belief of imminent death or serious bodily injury to self, family, a member of the household or a person visiting as an invited guest, when that force is used against another person, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence, business, dwelling or vehicle, and the person using defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred. The presumption established in subsection (c) shall not apply, if: The person against whom the force is used has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the dwelling, business, residence, or vehicle, such as an owner, lessee, or titleholder; provided, that the person is not prohibited from entering the dwelling, business, residence, or occupied vehicle by an order of protection, injunction for protection from domestic abuse, or a court order of no contact against that person; The person against whom the force is used is attempting to remove a person or persons who is a child or grandchild of, or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful guardianship of, the person against whom the defensive force is used; Notwithstanding § 39-17-1322, the person using force is engaged in an unlawful activity or is using the dwelling, business, residence, or occupied vehicle to further an unlawful activity; or The person against whom force is used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in § 39-11-106, who enters or attempts to enter a dwelling, business, residence, or vehicle in the performance of the officer's official duties, and the officer identified the officer in accordance with any applicable law, or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person entering or attempting to enter was a law enforcement officer. The threat or use of force against another is not justified: If the person using force consented to the exact force used or attempted by the other individual; If the person using force provoked the other individual's use or attempted use of unlawful force, unless: The person using force abandons the encounter or clearly communicates to the other the intent to do so; and The other person nevertheless continues or attempts to use unlawful force against the person; or To resist a halt at a roadblock, arrest, search, or stop and frisk that the person using force knows is being made by a law enforcement officer, unless: The law enforcement officer uses or attempts to use greater force than necessary to make the arrest, search, stop and frisk, or halt; and The person using force reasonably believes that the force is immediately necessary to protect against the law enforcement officer's use or attempted use of greater force than necessary. A nuclear security officer is authorized to use deadly force under the following circumstances: Deadly force appears reasonably necessary to prevent or impede an act, or attempted act, of radiological sabotage at a category I nuclear facility or nuclear power reactor facility, including, but not limited to, situations where a person is attempting to, or has, unlawfully or forcefully entered a category I nuclear facility or nuclear power reactor facility, and where adversary tactics are employed to attempt an act of radiological sabotage, such as, but not limited to: Use of firearms or small arms; Use of explosive devices; Use of incendiary devices; Use of vehicle borne improvised explosive devices; Use of water borne improvised explosive devices; Breaching of barriers; and Use of other adversary or terrorist tactics which could be employed to attempt an act of radiological sabotage; Deadly force appears reasonably necessary to protect the nuclear security officer or another person if the nuclear security officer reasonably believes there is an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury; Deadly force appears reasonably necessary to prevent the imminent infliction or threatened infliction of death or serious bodily harm or the sabotage of an occupied facility by explosives; Deadly force appears reasonably necessary to prevent the theft, sabotage, or unauthorized control of special nuclear material from a nuclear power reactor facility or of a nuclear weapon or nuclear explosive device or special nuclear material from a category I nuclear facility; or Deadly force reasonably appears to be necessary to apprehend or prevent the escape of a person reasonably believed to: Have committed an offense of the nature specified under this subsection (f); or Be escaping by use of a weapon or explosive or who otherwise poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm to nuclear security officers or others unless apprehended without delay. Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 1; 1990, ch. 1030, § 8; 2007, ch. 210, § 1; 2008, ch. 1012, § 1; 2009, ch. 194, § 2; 2012, ch. 627, §§ 1, 2; 2016, ch. 701, §§ 1-5; 2017, ch. 80, §§ 1-4. Sentencing Commission Comments. This section codifies much of the common law doctrine of self defense. The defense is applicable to the use or threatened use of force and to both ordinary force and deadly force. Threats are included because under some circumstances they constitute offenses. Subsection (a) allows the justification of self defense to persons who reasonably believe they are imminently threatened with force or are actually attacked and who react with the force reasonably necessary to protect themselves. The test of “reasonable belief” places the emphasis on the defendant's reliance upon reasonable appearances rather than exposing the defendant to the peril of criminal liability where appearances were deceiving and no actual danger existed. The test is threefold: the defendant must reasonably believe he is threatened with imminent loss of life or serious bodily injury; the danger creating the belief must be real or honestly believed to be real at the time of the action; and the belief must be founded on reasonable grounds. Under this section, there is no duty to retreat, which changes Tennessee law. Subsection (b) is a restatement of a prior Tennessee statute which created a presumption that a person using force against an intruder in the residence held a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious injury. Subsections (c), (d) and (e) are restrictions to the defense. Subsections (c) and (d) continue the traditional rule that the defendant claiming justification should be free from fault in bringing on the necessity of using force. Subsection (c) recognizes that persons who consent to the force used against them are prohibited from utilizing self defense in responding to that use of force. Examples would be mutual combatants or participants in contact sports. The defense, however, is available if the force used against the defendant exceeded the scope of the defendant's consent. Subsection (d) also restricts the defense by codifying the traditional concept of the initial aggressor. In order to use the defense, the initial aggressor must withdraw or communicate an intent to withdraw and the force must continue despite this communication. See Irvine v. State, 104 Tenn. 132, 56 S.W. 845 (1900); Gann v. State, 214 Tenn. 711, 383 S.W.2d 32 (1964). Subsection (e) represents a policy decision by the commission that the street is not the proper forum for determining the legality of an arrest. To a large extent, the rule is designed to protect citizens from being harmed by law enforcement officers. Research has shown that citizens who resist arrest frequently are injured by trained officers who use their skills and weapons to protect themselves and effectuate the arrest. If the defendant knows it is a law enforcement officer who has stopped or arrested him or her, respect for the rule of law requires the defendant to submit to apparent authority. The justification is restored if the law enforcement officer uses greater force than necessary under the circumstances and the defendant acts under reasonable belief that his or her acts are necessary for self-protection. Compiler's Notes. The sentencing commission terminated June 30, 1995. Sentencing Commission Comments have been retained, but do not reflect 1995 or subsequent legislation. Attorney General Opinions. Retaliation by gang members subjected to armed attack, OAG 99-009 (1/25/99).