Legal Question in Criminal Law in Tennessee

The filing of a warrant alleging violation of probation stops (tolls) the running of probation. ALL of the

original sentence is at risk when a defendant violates probation, even if on the last day.

In other words, in the absence of any other facts, a sentence of "three years, to serve on probation" imposed in February 9, 2013 will expire -- if at all -- on February 8, 2016."

If the Defendant violated probation in October 2015 and was promptly arrested on the violation of probation warrant, he is still at risk of serving the entire three years in confinement. Of course, the fact that the Defendant "nearly made it to the end of his probation" is a matter that the judge might take into consideration in deciding whether or not to fully revoke the probation and send the defendant to the penitentiary.

Of course, if the Defendant violated his probation in 2014 and it took a year to find him and finally arrest him in October 2015, he didn't "nearly make it to the end of his probation," since probation stopped running back in 2014 when the warrant was filed.