What is a aggravated vehicular homicide charge in Tennessee ? Most criminal charges have elements or components of what it takes to be convicted. Here is the jury charge of aggravated vehicular homicide ;

T.P.I. — CRIM. 7.11

AGGRAVATED VEHICULAR HOMICIDE

            Members of the Jury, you have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of vehicular homicide as charged in Count _____ of the indictment.

            It is now your duty to determine whether the defendant is guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide as charged in Count _____ of the indictment.  The law provides for increased punishment for aggravated vehicular homicide.1

            Any person who commits the offense of aggravated vehicular homicide is guilty of a crime.

            For you to find the defendant guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, the state must have proven beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the following essential elements:2

            (1)(A) that the defendant has two (2) or more prior convictions for driving

                        under the influence of an intoxicant, vehicular assault or any

                        combination of such offenses;

or

                (B)  that the defendant has one (1) or more prior convictions for the offense

                        of vehicular homicide;

or

                 (C)(1)  that there was at the time of the offense twenty-hundredths of one

                             percent (.20%) or more by weight of blood alcohol in the

                             defendant’s blood;

and

                     (2)  that the defendant has one (1) prior conviction for driving under the

                             influence of an intoxicant or vehicular assault.

            “Prior conviction” means an offense for which the defendant was convicted prior to the commission of the instant vehicular homicide and includes convictions under the laws of any other state, government, or country which, if committed in this state, would have constituted vehicular homicide, vehicular assault or driving under the influence of an intoxicant.3

Now here is the key point.The way the charge is worded the case is bifurcated.In a nutshell, the state must first prove you are guilty of vehicular homicide then proceed to prove the prior aggravating convictions.