5 Things People Believe About a Tennessee DUI Arrest That Are Not True

A DUI arrest in Tennessee happens fast, and the beliefs people fall back on in the car and at the jail — from a friend, a co-worker, or an article that was true somewhere else — are often wrong in ways that quietly make a case worse. Here are five of the most common.

Myth 1: You have to actually be driving to get a DUI in Tennessee.

You do not have to be driving. Tennessee makes it a crime either to drive or to be in physical control of a vehicle while impaired, and a parked car with the engine off will not by itself save you. Courts here decide “physical control” by weighing everything together — where you were in relation to the vehicle, where the keys were, whether the motor was running, whether you could have driven off but for being impaired, and whether the vehicle could move. No single fact decides it. People have been convicted asleep behind the wheel with the keys in a pocket, and sitting in a truck with the motor running only for heat, meaning only to sleep. There is no safe distance, no safe spot for the keys, and no “sleeping it off” exception.

Myth 2: A first DUI in Tennessee never comes with any jail time.

A first drunk-driving conviction in Tennessee carries jail time, and the judge cannot waive it. The law sets a floor of two consecutive days in the county jail, and a judge can order up to nearly a year — but never less. If your breath or blood reading was fifteen-hundredths of a percent or higher, the floor jumps to seven days, and a change in July 2024 lowered the reading that triggers it. Until mid-2023, one kind of county, in practical terms Nashville, let a judge order public-service work instead of the required jail on a first offense; the legislature deleted that option. Most other no-jail stories never ended in a DUI conviction at all, most often through a negotiated reduction no one is entitled to. A first DUI charge does not always end in jail; a first DUI conviction always does.

Myth 3: A drug your doctor prescribed can't be the basis of a DUI.

A prescription is not a defense. Tennessee’s impaired-driving law asks only one question — did a substance impair your ability to drive safely — and it reaches any drug or anything that affects the central nervous system, whether illegal, prescribed, or bought off a pharmacy shelf. A separate provision states flatly that being entitled to take the substance is no defense, and taking it exactly as directed changes nothing. Juries here have convicted drivers whose blood levels sat inside the range a physician would normally prescribe, and even one below that range. There is no “legal limit” for a medication, so no number clears you. What the state must prove is that the medication actually impaired your driving — a burden, not a shield, and one the reported cases show it meeting with driving behavior, officer observations and roadside tests.

Myth 4: You can talk your way out of it if you're polite and honest about how much you drank.

Being polite and honest about how much you drank does not talk you out of a Tennessee arrest — in the reported cases it is what builds one. Our highest court reinstated charges against a driver who was cooperative, admitted his drinking candidly, and performed the roadside tests satisfactorily, reversing two lower courts that had thrown the arrest out and holding the driving, the smell of alcohol, and his own admission were enough. Because a routine traffic stop is not treated as custody, an officer need not read you your rights before asking about your drinking — and a short, public, courteous stop is exactly the kind our courts point to in holding no warning was owed, so your polite answer comes in against you. You need not discuss your drinking — but the breath or blood test is separate, with its own penalty for refusing.

Myth 5: Once you've been arrested for a DUI, the case can't be beaten.

An arrest is an accusation, not a verdict, and Tennessee’s own courts have thrown out drunk-driving cases after the arrest — including one where the state’s highest court reviewed the patrol-car video, decided there had never been a good reason to pull the driver over, and dismissed the charge after two lower courts had gone the other way. The officer needed only enough facts to believe an offense had probably occurred; to convict, the state must prove every part of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, and you are presumed innocent. What Tennessee does not give you is a soft landing — no program makes this charge disappear, and a conviction can never be cleared from your record. That is why the earliest decisions in a case, and getting a lawyer into it quickly, matter so much.

About the Author

David G. Ridings is a Nashville criminal defense attorney, former police officer, and former prosecutor with nearly 40 years of experience in the Tennessee justice system. Known as “DrJudge,” he educates hundreds of thousands about their rights during police encounters.

Call to Action

If you have been arrested for a DUI in Tennessee, the choices made in the first days shape what follows. Don't talk your way deeper into it, and don't assume the case decides itself. Call Ridings Law Group at 1-888-DRJUDGE to talk through where you stand.