Obtaining subpoena for production of documents or information – Required findings and duties – Self incrimination – Contempt

(a) The following procedure shall be employed when a law enforcement officer, as defined in § 39-11-106, seeks to obtain a subpoena for the production of books, papers, records, documents, tangible things, or information and data electronically stored for the purpose of establishing, investigating or gathering evidence for the prosecution of a criminal offense. Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!(1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.(b) If the officer has reason to believe that a criminal offense has been committed or is being committed and that requiring the production of documents or information is necessary to establish who committed or is committing the offense or to aid in the investigation and prosecution of the person or persons believed to have committed or believed to be committing the offense, the officer shall prepare an affidavit in accordance with subsection (c). (c) An affidavit in support of a request to compel the production of books, papers, records, documents, tangible things, or information and data electronically stored shall state with particularity the following: (1) A statement that a specific criminal offense has been committed or is being committed and the nature of the criminal offense; (2) The articulable reasons why the law enforcement officer believes the production of the documents requested will materially assist in the investigation of the specific offense committed or being committed; (3) The custodian of the documents requested and the person, persons or corporation about whom the documents pertain; (4) The specific documents requested to be included in the subpoena; and (5) The nexus between the documents requested and the criminal offense committed or being committed. (d) (1) Upon preparing the affidavit, the law enforcement officer shall submit it to either a judge of a court of record or a general sessions judge who serves the officer’s county of jurisdiction. The judge shall examine the affidavit and may examine the affiants under oath. The judge shall grant the request for a subpoena to produce the documents requested if the judge finds that the affiants have presented a reasonable basis for believing that: (A) A specific criminal offense has been committed or is being committed; (B) Production of the requested documents will materially assist law enforcement in the establishment or investigation of the offense; (C) There exists a clear and logical nexus between the documents requested and the offense committed or being committed; and (D) The scope of the request is not unreasonably broad or the documents unduly burdensome to produce. (2) If the judge finds that all of the criteria set out in subdivision (d)(1) exist as to some of the documents requested but not all of them, the judge may grant the subpoena as to the documents that do, but deny it as to the ones that do not. (3) If the judge finds that all of the criteria set out in subdivision (d)(1) do not exist as to any of the documents requested, the judge shall deny the request for subpoena. (e) The affidavit filed in support of any request for the issuance of a subpoena pursuant to this section shall be filed with and maintained by the court. If a subpoena is issued as the result of an affidavit, the affidavit shall be kept under seal by the judge until a copy is requested by the district attorney general, criminal charges are filed in the case, or the affidavit is ordered released by a court of record for good cause. (f) A subpoena granted pursuant to this section by a judge of a court of record shall issue to any part of the state and shall command the person, or designated agent for service of process, to whom it is directed to produce any books, papers, records, documents, tangible things, or information and data electronically stored that is specified in the subpoena, to the law enforcement officer and at any reasonable time and place that is designated in the subpoena. A subpoena granted pursuant to this section by a judge of a court of general sessions shall in all respects be like a subpoena granted by the judge of a court of rec