(a) A person commits an offense who:

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C felony3 to 15 yearsup to $10,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
criminal case

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-16-107

  • Official proceeding: means any type of administrative, executive, legislative or judicial proceeding that may be conducted before a public servant authorized by law to take statements under oath. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
(1) Offers, confers or agrees to confer anything of value upon a witness or a person the defendant believes will be called as a witness in any official proceeding with intent to:

(A) Corruptly influence the testimony of the witness;
(B) Induce the witness to avoid or attempt to avoid legal process summoning the witness to testify; or
(C) Induce the witness to be absent from an official proceeding to which that witness has been legally summoned; or
(2) Is a witness or believes the person will be called as a witness in any official proceeding and solicits, accepts or agrees to accept anything of value upon an agreement or understanding that:

(A) The witness’s testimony will be corruptly influenced;
(B) The witness will attempt to avoid legal process summoning the witness to testify; or
(C) The witness will attempt to be absent from an official proceeding to which the witness has been legally summoned.
(b) This section does not apply to the payment of additional compensation to an expert witness over and above the amount otherwise prescribed by law to be paid a witness.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to nullify or repeal any contempt power of any judge of any court of this state.
(d) Bribing a witness is a Class C felony.
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