In Tennessee Criminal courtrooms, probation violation hearings are sometimes difficult to win.  However, I ran across some good case law to help win these cases.

Often, a probation violation warrant is taken out due to a new criminal charge.  In State of Tennessee v. James Butler, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee  held that a trial court may not rely on the mere fact of an arrest or indictment to revoke a defendant’s probation.  The state must produce some evidence in the usual form of testimony in order to establish the probationer’s commission of another offense while on probation.  Therefore, the state must put on proof rather than just relying on the testimony of the probation officer.

So, be mindful that the state must prove the new offense by a preponderance of the evidence. I hope you find this case useful.