Legal Question in Criminal Law in Tennessee

my boyfriend has a fta charge for having a marijuana pipe. he didnt go to court when he was supposed to and this has been over a year ago. he was taken to jail last saturday and has been there ever since. he had his arraignment on tuesday and they gave him 30 days in jail.. he is scheduled to go to court this wednesday at 9 am and i was wondering if he is going to get out on probation or if he will have to be there for the full 30 days. also i was wondering if they do time served and good behaviour for the time he has been there. he went last saturday at 3 am. the only charge he has is fta. would he be likely to get out on wednesday?


Asked on 5/06/13, 9:03 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Bloodworth

Not to be too sharp, but you need to ask his lawyer who handled his case in court.

Failure to Appear in court ("bond jumping") on a class A misdemeanor like Drug Paraphernalia is a Class E Felony.

Sometimes when a Defendant fails to appear, and then shows up months late for court, but pleads guilty to the orignal charge, the prosecutor agrees to dismiss the Failure to Appear charge so the defendant will not have a felony conviction on his record. The price for dismissing the felony might well be more time to serve (like 30 days) for the original offense, which often is punished by a fine but no jail.

Sometimes the Defendant is promptly sentenced for the paraphernalia charge, and the felony failure to appear is bound over to the grand jury. In that case he may or may not stay in jail, and will still have to answer a felony charge if he is indicted.

Under Tennessee law, there is a semi-automatic 1/4th off of a sentence for good behavior. An inmate can ofter earn other credits such as workhouse, trustee, etc. Rarely does a sentence of "30 days" take a full 30 days.

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Answered on 5/07/13, 12:51 pm


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