Reference Number: CTAS-642
A public servant acting under color of office or employment (acting or purporting to act in an official capacity or taking advantage of actual or purported capacity) commits an offense who:
- Intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, stop, frisk, halt, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment or lien when the public servant knows the conduct is unlawful; or
- Intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power or immunity, when the public servant knows the conduct is unlawful.
T.C.A. § 39-16-403(a).
An offense under this section is a Class E felony. T.C.A. § 39-16-403(c).
See Coffey v. State, 339 S.W.2d 1 (Tenn. 1960) (upholding constable’s conviction for official oppression and removal from office).