Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-17-120 (2026)
Prior statements of witnesses - Requiring production
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) After a witness called by either the state or the defendant in a criminal case has testified on direct examination, the court shall, on motion, order the state or the defense to produce any statement of the witness in the state's or the defense's possession which relates to the subject matter as to which the witness has testified. Upon request by the state or the defense made upon calling a witness and in advance of direct testimony, the court shall first inspect the statement in camera to determine if it contains matter relating to the subject matter of the testimony. The court shall excise those portions which do not relate to the subject matter of the testimony; however, in the event of conviction and appeal, on motion by either party, the entire statement shall be made available to the reviewing courts. If the party calling a witness elects not to comply with this subsection (a), the court shall have the witness withdraw and shall not allow any direct testimony.
- (b) "Statement," as used in this section, means:
- (1) A written statement made by a witness and signed, or otherwise adopted or approved by the witness; or
- (2) A stenographic, mechanical, electrical or other recording of a statement, or a transcript or summary of the statement, which is an essentially verbatim recital of an oral statement made by the witness.
Acts 1976, ch. 628, §§ 1, 2; 1978, ch. 711, § 1; T.C.A. § 40-2446.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2001–2022 · leading case: State of Tennessee v. Cassius Dominique Ivory (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021).
State of Tennessee v. Cassius Dominique Ivory (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021). “Herman’s pretrial statements pursuant to Code section 40-17-120 and Criminal Procedure Rule 26.”
State of Tennessee v. McArthur Bobo (Tenn. Crim. App. 2022). “2(a), (d); see also Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-17-120 (a). In such context, “‘statement’ means .”
State of Tennessee v. Thomas Faulkner, Jr. (Tenn. Crim. App. 2001). “2(a) (emphasis added); see Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-17-120 (1997). The statement in this case was produced prior to Lowery even taking the stand.”
State of Tennessee v. Danny Howard (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “(c) Recess for Examination of Statement. The court may recess the proceedings to allow time for a party to examine the statement and prepare for its use.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-17-120(a) — 2 cases
State of Tennessee v. Cassius Dominique Ivory (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021). “Herman’s pretrial statements pursuant to Code section 40-17-120 and Criminal Procedure Rule 26.”
State of Tennessee v. Danny Howard (Tenn. Crim. App. 2013). “(c) Recess for Examination of Statement. The court may recess the proceedings to allow time for a party to examine the statement and prepare for its use.”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-17-120(b) — 1 case
State of Tennessee v. Cassius Dominique Ivory (Tenn. Crim. App. 2021). “Herman’s pretrial statements pursuant to Code section 40-17-120 and Criminal Procedure Rule 26.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.