Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

It seems schools these days are more dangerous than ever before, with stories of school-related violence constantly finding a place on the news and in the headlines. Such violence comes in many different forms, whether it be by a student or a student’s parent against a teacher, by a teacher against a student or another teacher, or often even by a student against another student. Many states have laws that specifically target school-related violence, and Tennessee is one of them. One specific law Tennessee has enacted with this goal in mind can be found in T.C.A. section 39-13-114 which concerns communicating a threat concerning a school employee.

The above-referenced statute applies to basically any institution that could be considered a “school,” including colleges and universities. It essentially has four elements:

• “ (b) A person commits the offense of communicating a threat concerning a school employee if:
  
  1. The person communicates to another a threat to cause the death of or serious bodily injury to a school employee and the threat is directly related to the employee's scope of employment;
  
  
  2. The threat involves the use of a firearm or other deadly weapon;
  
  
  3. The person to whom the threat is made reasonably believes that the person making the threat intends to carry out the threat; and
  
  
  4. The person making the threat intentionally engages in conduct that constitutes a substantial step in the commission of the threatened act and the threatened act and the substantial step when taken together:
  
  
  • (A) Are corroborative of the person's intent to commit the threatened act; and
  
  
  • (B) Occur close enough in time to evidence an intent and ability to commit the threatened act”