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Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 9
RULE 9. CAPIAS OR SUMMONS UPON INDICTMENT OR PRESENTMENT
(a) Issuance. After the return of an indictment or presentment by the grand jury, the clerk shall issue a capias or a criminal summons for each defendant named in the indictment or presentment who is not in actual custody, or who has not been released on recognizance or on bail, or whose undertaking of bail has been declared forfeited. The clerk shall issue a criminal summons instead of a capias upon the request of the district attorney general or by direction of the court. Upon like request or direction the clerk shall issue subsequent process for the same defendant. The clerk shall deliver the capias or criminal summons to the sheriff or other person authorized by law to execute or serve it.
(b) Form. The form of the capias shall be the same as that for an arrest warrant and shall be signed by the clerk. The capias shall describe the offense charged and it shall command that the defendant be arrested and brought before the court in which the charge is pending. The criminal summons shall be in the same form as the capias except that it shall summon the defendant to appear before the court at a stated time and place and shall give notice to the defendant that the failure to appear as ordered shall constitute contempt of court.
(c) Execution; Return. The capias and criminal summons shall be executed and served as provided in Rule 4(d). The peace officer executing a capias shall make return thereof to the court. At the request of the district attorney general any unexecuted capias shall be returned and cancelled. On or before the return day the person to whom a criminal summons was delivered for service shall make return thereof.
(d) Reissuance. At the request of the district attorney general made at any time while the indictment is pending, or upon its own initiative, the court may direct the clerk to deliver to the sheriff or other authorized person for execution or service a capias returned unexecuted and not cancelled or a criminal summons returned unanswered or a duplicate of either.
(e) Failure to Appear. If a defendant, other than a corporation, limited liability company or limited liability partnership, fails to appear in response to a criminal summons, a capias shall issue. If after being summoned a corporation does not appear, a plea of not guilty shall be entered by the court having jurisdiction to try the offense for which the criminal summons was issued, and such court shall proceed to trial and judgment without further process.
[Amended effective July 1, 1995.]
This rule is patterned after the proposals of the Law Revision Commission in §§40-1007 and 40-1010 of their proposed code.
No provision is made for process following a prosecution commenced by a criminal information, because under Art. 1, Sec. 14 of our Constitution and T.C.A. §§40-301 et seq., a threshold waiver and agreement by the accused would be required and hence process would not be needed.
This rule provides that the District Attorney General or the trial judge may direct that the clerk issue a criminal summons rather than a capias.
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