The first days after a DUI arrest in Nashville decide what evidence still exists by the time anyone looks at your case. Here is what to do, in order.
Short answer. After a DUI arrest in Nashville, find your court date on the citation or release paperwork, write down everything you remember while it is fresh, stay off the phone about the case, and get the cruiser and body camera video requested before it is overwritten. A conviction under Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-401 carries mandatory jail and a one year loss of driving privileges.
Written by Austin Tomlinson, criminal defense attorney at Patriot Law, Nashville, Tennessee. Last reviewed November 2026.
You were released, the car is impounded, and you have a piece of paper with a date on it. What happens after a DUI arrest in Nashville depends a lot on what gets done in the next week or two, while the evidence is still intact and before anyone asks you to plead.
This page is general information about Tennessee law, not advice about your case. If you want someone to look at the specifics, that part is free.
Arrested this week? Austin Tomlinson will review the stop, the testing and your license situation at no charge. Call (615) 669-8312 or send a confidential message.
It is on the citation or the release paperwork. Nashville DUI cases start in the Metropolitan General Sessions Court at the Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 2nd Ave N. Missing a setting creates a second problem on top of the first one.
Where you were, what and when you drank or took, who you were with, what you ate, what the officer said, what you said, what tests you were asked to do and on what surface, whether you were told anything about refusing a test. Details fade within days. Memory is evidence.
Citation, bond paperwork, towing and impound receipts, any implied consent form you were handed, any hospital or blood draw paperwork. Photograph all of it.
Injuries, bruising from handcuffs, the shoes you were wearing during field sobriety tests, and the stretch of road where you were stopped, including the slope and lighting.
Not on social media, not in a group chat, not to the person who picked you up. Assume any call from a jail phone is recorded. Conversations with your lawyer are different, and that difference is the point of having one.
Cruiser and body camera footage and breath instrument records do not sit on a shelf forever. A lawyer can request and preserve them. This is the single most time sensitive thing on this list.
Knowing what the charge requires makes the rest of this less frightening. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-401, it is unlawful to drive or be in physical control of a vehicle on a public road, or on premises “generally frequented by the public at large,” while:
Under the influence of an intoxicant, marijuana, a controlled substance or a drug that “impairs the driver’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.” § 55-10-401(1).
An alcohol concentration in the blood or breath of “eight-hundredths of one percent (0.08%) or more.” § 55-10-401(2).
0.04% or more while operating a commercial motor vehicle. § 55-10-401(3).
An arrest is an accusation, not a result. Each piece of the State’s case, from the reason for the stop to the handling of a blood sample, has rules attached to it. Our post on field sobriety testing covers one of those pieces in detail.
Two different things can take your license, and people routinely confuse them.
A driver prohibited from driving may apply to the trial judge for a restricted license under § 55-10-409, usually with an ignition interlock device as a condition. Some drivers are not eligible. See our page on implied consent refusal.
A DUI plea is a conviction. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-313 excludes DUI from judicial diversion, so there is no version of this that quietly disappears later.
It is a separate charge, and it tells the court something about you before anyone has argued your case.
Photos, timelines and jokes from that night can all end up in a file. So can a deleted post somebody already screenshotted.
A prior DUI within ten years of the new offense makes you a multiple offender under § 55-10-405. A prior vehicular assault or vehicular homicide counts no matter how old it is.
The impound lot, the court clerk and your insurer all run on deadlines that do not pause for your case.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, tell the court. Under § 40-14-202, it must advise you of the right to counsel and appoint one if it finds you indigent. See public defender vs private attorney.
These minimums are set by statute, so no lawyer can bargain them away. They are the reason the early work matters.
| Offense | Minimum jail | License prohibition |
|---|---|---|
| First | 48 consecutive hours, or 7 consecutive days at 0.15% or more | 1 year |
| Second | 45 consecutive days | 2 years |
| Third | 120 consecutive days | 6 years |
| Fourth | 150 consecutive days, Class E felony | 8 years |
Sources: Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-402(a) and § 55-10-404(a). A child under 18 in the vehicle adds a mandatory 30 days under § 55-10-402(b)(1). After the minimum, the balance of the sentence is served on probation under § 55-10-402(e).
Every case turns on its own facts. Any result described on this page is not a prediction or guarantee of the outcome in another matter.
The first setting in General Sessions is usually short. The court confirms you have counsel or advises you of the right to it, and the case is set again. Nothing is decided that day unless you decide it.
The hearing that matters early is the preliminary hearing, where the State has to show probable cause and your lawyer can cross examine the arresting officer under oath. If the case is bound over by the grand jury it moves to Criminal Court, which our post on General Sessions versus Criminal Court explains.
If you are a veteran or currently serving, the charge can reach a clearance, benefits or your command. Those get addressed alongside the criminal case. See security clearance and benefits and Davidson County Veterans Court.
As soon as you are released. Cruiser and body camera video and breath instrument maintenance records are easiest to request and preserve early, and the first court setting can arrive within weeks.
The driving prohibition under § 55-10-404 follows a conviction, and the revocation for refusing a test under § 55-10-407 is ordered by the court. Both come out of the case rather than from a separate agency hearing, so the court date is where your license is decided.
Judicial diversion is not available. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-313 excludes driving under the influence, so a guilty plea results in a conviction. What happens to any individual case depends on the evidence, and no lawyer can promise a result.
Anything you say can be used against you, and a prosecutor is not your lawyer. Questions about your case are better routed through counsel, whether retained or appointed.
Refusing is not a criminal offense under § 55-10-407, but it carries a license revocation of one year with no prior conviction, or two years with one, and that period runs consecutive to any revocation from a DUI conviction.
They start in the Metropolitan General Sessions Court of Nashville and Davidson County at the Justice A.A. Birch Building, 408 2nd Ave N. A case bound over by the grand jury moves to Criminal Court.
Every case turns on its own facts. Any result described on this page is not a prediction or guarantee of the outcome in another matter.
Austin Tomlinson is an Army veteran who defends veterans and civilians across Middle Tennessee. Bring him what happened and he will tell you what the State has to prove and what comes next.
Each county page covers the court structure, the specialty courts and the local rules of that county. Each city page covers which court actually has your case, how far away it is, and what that city's own court can and cannot do. The areas served page lays all of it out in one place. If your city is not listed, call anyway — these are the places Austin appears most often, not the limits of where he goes.
Every day you wait is a day the prosecution is working and you are not. Call Patriot Law and get a straight read on where you actually stand.
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