[important]T.C.A. \u00a740-35-313 is entitled ” Probation — Conditions — Discharge and dismissal — Expunction from official records” and provides the criminal court with the authority to defer further criminal proceedings in certain instances [\/important]<\/p>\n This change from pretrial diversion<\/strong> to only judicial diversion<\/strong> ultimately may appear to be a distinction without much difference.\u00a0 However, under the former pretrial diversion statute the Tennessee Attorney General as prosecutor had broad discretion<\/strong> as to whether to grant diversion or not.\u00a0 Under the revised procedure, it is the court that holds the discretion<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, in practice it will still be the criminal defense attorney<\/a> and the prosecutor working together for a plea agreement<\/a> which allows for judicial diversion<\/strong> in most cases.\u00a0 However, the criminal defense attorney<\/strong> could request judicial diversion with or without the consent of the State of Tennessee.<\/p>\n The biggest change in Tennessee’s judicial diversion laws in the addition of DUI as a crime that can not be diverted<\/strong>. A judicial diversion can only be granted in the court has received a report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) which shows that the criminal defendant is eligible for diversion.\u00a0 To be eligible for judicial diversion a criminal defendant must not have been previously convicted of a felony, or a Class A misdemeanor for which a period of confinement has been served.\u00a0 Certain classes of crimes are not eligible for diversion, including Class A felonies, Class B Felonies, certain sexual crimes, and now any DUI related offense.<\/p>\n Just like the former pre trial diversion program, a judicial diversion requires the diversion period<\/strong> to be equivalent to the maximum sentence for the crime being diverted.\u00a0 For instance, if you are charged with a Class E Felony, the sentence is typically one (1) to six (6) years so the diversion period would be six (6) years.\u00a0 After successful completion of a judicial diversion the defendant may apply to the court for the record of conviction to be expunged. You may divert only one crime in your lifetime.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [important]<\/p>\n It appears that after the latest judicial conference Tennessee Criminal Court Judges are now officially processing pre-trial diversions as judicial diversions.\u00a0 It is now the judge that must be convinced of the propriety of granting a diversion.\u00a0 The judge, not the prosecutor will explain the process of diversion, the reasoning behind granting a diversion, and the consequences of violating a pre-trial judicial diversion. [\/important]<\/p>\n Ultimately, before considering a judicial diversion or any other plea bargain<\/strong> you need to discuss the options with your criminal attorney<\/a>.\u00a0 Be sure to choose your criminal lawyer wisely, making sure that the attorney has experience<\/a> in obtaining pre-trial diversions – as now the lawyer must convince the criminal judge, not the prosecutor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennessee Pretrial Diversion Changes, No Diversion for DUI Offenses Effective July 1, 2011, Tennessee no longer has a “Pretrial Diversion” program but judicial diversion is still available to criminal defendants. Tennessee House Bill 64 repealed T.C.A. \u00a740-15 in its entirety and amended T.C.A. \u00a740-35-313 [important]T.C.A. \u00a740-35-313 is entitled ” Probation — Conditions — Discharge and dismissal — Expunction from official records” and provides the criminal court with the authority to defer further criminal proceedings in certain instances [\/important] This change from pretrial diversion to only judicial diversion ultimately may appear to be a distinction without much difference.\u00a0 However, under the former pretrial diversion statute theRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,18,21],"tags":[53,110,112,113,144,220,231,264,270],"yst_prominent_words":[440,453,413,1249,923,915,911,912,1890,1896,1893,1891,1892,1888,1898,1895,1894,1889,1897,485],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-1150","6":"format-standard","7":"category-chattanooga-criminal-defense-attorneys","8":"category-criminal-law","9":"category-dui","10":"category-featured-legal-articles","11":"post_tag-attorney-at-law","12":"post_tag-criminal-defense","13":"post_tag-criminal-law-tennessee","14":"post_tag-changes-criminal-law-tennessee","15":"post_tag-dui","16":"post_tag-lawyer-legal-professional","17":"post_tag-legal-rights","18":"post_tag-plea-bargain","19":"post_tag-pretrial-diversion"},"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"hoot-small-preview":false,"hoot-large-preview":false,"hoot-medium-preview":false,"hoot-wide":false,"hoot-extra-wide":false,"hoot-boxcontent":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Todd Couvillon","author_link":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":4,"uagb_excerpt":"Tennessee Pretrial Diversion Changes, No Diversion for DUI Offenses Effective July 1, 2011, Tennessee no longer has a “Pretrial Diversion” program but judicial diversion is still available to criminal defendants. Tennessee House Bill 64 repealed T.C.A. \u00a740-15 in its entirety and amended T.C.A. \u00a740-35-313 [important]T.C.A. \u00a740-35-313 is entitled ” Probation — Conditions — Discharge and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Choose](\"https:\/\/purplelawfirm.com\/law-and-you-chattanooga\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2011\/04\/Criminal_Law.png\" "\\"Criminal")
<\/a>DUI offenses are excluded from\u00a0 judicial diversion program<\/h2>\n
Pre-Trial Diversion and Judicial Diversion – Same diversion period<\/h3>\n
Update October 24, 2011 Pre-Trial Diversion Now Judicial Diversion in Tennessee<\/h3>\n