In addition to the jurisdiction in criminal cases as conferred in §§16-15-401 and16-15-501, the court of general sessions is vested with jurisdiction to try and determine and render final judgment in all misdemeanor cases brought before the court by warrant or information where the person charged with the misdemeanor enters a plea of guilty in writing or requests a trial upon the merits and expressly waives an indictment, presentment, grand jury investigation and jury trial. The waiver shall be in writing as provided in Rule 5 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure. In such cases, the trial shall proceed before the court without the intervention of a jury, and the court shall enter judgment, and, as an incident thereto, may inflict punishment within the limits provided by law for the particular offense as the court may determine proper under the peculiar circumstances of the case.
Code 1858, § 4969; Shan., § 6930; mod. Code 1932, § 11469; Acts 1959, ch. 109, § 5; 1967, ch. 360, § 1; 1969, ch. 214, § 1; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 68, § 3; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 40-117, 40-118; Acts 1983, ch. 334, § 1; 1993, ch. 241, § 56.
Textbooks. Tennessee Criminal Practice and Procedure (Raybin), §§ 7.7, 22.2.
Tennessee Jurisprudence, 8 Tenn. Juris., Criminal Procedure, § 20; 17 Tenn. Juris., Justices of Peace and General Sessions Courts, §§ 21, 22, 39; 25 Tenn. Juris., Weapons, § 7.
Law Reviews.
Selected Tennessee Legislation of 1983 (N. L. Resener, J. A. Whitson, K. J. Miller), 50 Tenn. L. Rev. 785 (1983).
Attorney General Opinions. Transfer upon demand for jury trial in criminal contempt proceeding, OAG 98-048 (2/23/98).
Procedure where failure to appear in municipal court with general sessions jurisdiction charged, OAG 99-096 (4/27/99).
After a finding of “not guilty by reason of insanity” in a trial in general sessions court, the court has jurisdiction to order the 60 to 90 day (now 30 to 60 days) evaluation required by T.C.A. §33-7-303, but only in misdemeanor cases where the defendant waives in writing an indictment, presentment, grand jury investigation, and jury trial and the district attorney general does not object, OAG 01-041 (3/19/01).