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Domestic Abuse: Primary Aggresor (Part II)

By Baker Associates

In our previous blog, we discussed how police officers in Tennessee are commanded by law to assess a domestic violence situation by determining who the primary aggressor is and responding to that situation accordingly. It is worth noting that the decision as to who is the primary aggressor is not entirely up to the discretion of the police officer. In fact, the Tennessee Code mandates what factors the officer can consider in determining who the primary aggressor is. T.C.A. §36-3-619(c) provides that an officer must consider: (1) The history of domestic abuse between the parties; (2) The relative severity of the injuries inflicted on each person; (3) Evidence from the persons involved in the domestic abuse; (4) The likelihood of future injury to each person; (5) Whether one (1) of the persons acted in self-defense; and (6) Evidence from witnesses of the domestic abuse...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on April 28, 2010 (boomark / email).