Arizona Criminal Defense Legal Questions

In most cases, if he is to remain in the juvenile court, prosecutor's must file the matter before age 18. If being prosecuted in a city or justice court for a misdemeanor, one year from the date of offense. If a felony, the normal statute is 7 years from the date of offense. Some crimes have no statute of limitations.... Read More

Normally, in Arizona, a first time conviction for an illegal substance can NOT result in a jail term. In your case, your priors will remove that option. If you have two priors involving drugs (misdemeanor or felony), then a 3rd conviction requires PRISON. Probation is not possible. In addition, the priors for the dangerous offenses will also remove you from a probation mandotory resolution. The bottom line is that you are facing serious felony charges with mandatory prison at the end of the tunnel. You should consider retaining expert counsel to assist you and hopefully to avoid prison.... Read More

In Arizona a Class 2 felony is an extremely serious offense. A person could be sentenced to probation, probation and up to a year flat in jail or they can be sentenced to prison. If prison the sentence can be anything from 3 - 12.5 years. If over the threshold amount, which is sounds like it is, this may be prison mandatory.... Read More

Sounds unusual to me. I would say either way is ok. Go the station (but not anywhere else) to get the citation, but only as long as you either go with an attorney or NOT SPEAK to the officer about anything other than "thank you sir", take the ticket and move on. Alternatively, have an attorney call the officer, or ask him to mail it to you.... Read More

Having conducted many homicide trials I can confirm that you are in a difficult spot. Legally you are required to comply with the subpoena, a court order. So at minimum you must appear at court for the scheduled trial when you are set to testify. Whether you can refuse to testify in part or entirely, based on your Fifth Amendment Rights, depends on the circumstances which you don't list in your question (and you should not). You need or should consult counsel directly and in person rather than discussing in a public forum like this.... Read More

A possible criminal charge for driving on a suspended license. However, ultimately, it depends on what the cop wrote the ticket for. Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You have a right to council. Don't be afraid to exercise that right. Most attorneys provide free initial consultations.... Read More

When someone is convicted of a felony they lose certain civil rights and the right to possess firearms. The only way to have your gun rights restored is to request the Court where your conviction is from to restore your gun rights. You can try doing this yourself or you can retain counsel to do it for you. Whether you have the right to make the request, let alone if you will be successful, depends on the nature and seriousness of the charge, the past criminal history etc. There are also certain time periods that must apply before you can file the request. Again contact a lawyer directly to so you can be advised properly given your particular circumstances; or you can contact the court, many of which have packets that contain information explaining everything; some courts, Maricopa County for example, even have public seminars to assist people in doing it themselves. Good luck.... Read More

This is very common in Tempe. I have handled numerous cases like this. For the state to prove the suspension they must prove you knew or should have known your license was suspended. You are charged with a misdemeanor criminal offense and should not fight this alone. Hire experienced council. There my also be some plea negotiations since the license was reinstated. I would need to review your complete MVD record to be more specific with you. Good luck.... Read More

Generally speaking, if you were not served with the paperwork, the court may not proceed on your case until you are served. However, there are many tricks that would ensure that you were served. For example, there is often a link that you go to on the paperwork that will show pictures or a video of you and once you click on the link to watch, the court knows that you have received the paperwork and you may be considered as being served.... Read More

Disorderly conduct is a class 1 misdemeanor and is punishable in Arizona by a maximum penalty of 6 months in jail and a $2,500 fine plus surcharges. A conviction would also obviously come with a criminal record. I would find it hard to believe that too many courts in Arizona would require jail time for a crime like this, so long as you have a clean criminal history, but the other punishments are viable. You may be able to fight this case and try to negotiate something that would prevent the criminal record from going on your record, such as a diversion program.... Read More

You need to contact an attorney directly to discuss this matter. It's unclear from your question whether you already have been to court or not. That makes a big difference in terms of the outcome. And unfortunately the requests for MVD hearings, despite the requirement that they be set within 30 days of the request, are not being set for 90 or more days out.... Read More

You may no longer want to prosecute, but once the state decides to bring charges you may no have a choice. You need to contact the prosecutor's office and tell them you do not wish to assist in the prosecution. If you are a victim you should have been given information on victim's rights and who to contact.... Read More

Most of the time Public Defenders are appointed on or after the arraignment date. If you have already been appointed a public defender - call him/her. Public Defenders are extremely busy and represent many people at one time. You should either have the name of your public defender or the office number to the public defender. Give it a call. If you cannot get in contact with your public defender make sure you go to your court date. The Public Defender will meet you there.... Read More

Whether you hire a lawyer or not is a personal decision. To the extent one can afford to hire counsel, most lawyers will tell you that you should not go to court without one, which is my view as well. Also, there are certain defenses or motions that typically are more successful with a lawyer, especially where there is a question as to who the driver was, as in your case. As far as the presented options on the ticket, either way you are entitled to a hearing/trial. You can show up on the date set to appear and then set it for trial or ask for a continuance, or you can ask for a hearing via the ticket and you will or should be notified of the hearing/trial date. There usually is no motion for a dismissal "before" the hearing based on a lack of evidence or inability of the city to prove you were the driver; that is why they have hearings/trials. But on the other hand sometimes you (or your attorney) can convince the city to dismiss the case if there is an evidence problem. This is an example of where having an attorney improves the chances of success, not only from the perspective of generally persuading the prosecutor to dismiss, but it is more difficult, and in some cases impossible, for the driver to say "that's not me" etc.... Read More

A misdemeanor conviction can be "set aside" (not truly and expungement under Arizona law). What that means is that even after the conviction is set aside and the charges dismissed etc., there will still be a record of the case, charges, and conviction. However you could tell people when asked, when applying for a job for example, that your conviction was set aside and that you are no longer "convicted." So in that sense a "set aside" is not technically expungement like in other states where once the conviction is expunged, it as if you were never convicted.... Read More

Felony embezzlement, fraud, and criminal racketeering charges can be filed up to seven (7) years after their discovery by the State or its political subdivision. (See A.R.S. 13-107(B)) However, a criminal indictment for "any misuse of public monies or a felony involving falsification of public records...may be commenced at any time." (See A.R.S. 13-107(A)) Given the renewed emphasis on bringing white collar criminals to justice, it is imperative parties to such criminal investigations secure defense counsel immediately to begin structuring an aggressive defense and mitigate the specter of a potentially never-ending criminal indictment.... Read More

While your spouse may have dropped the domestic violence charges, depending on the dangerousness of the activity alleged and what all transpired, the State of Arizona may still charge you with assault (13-1203) or harassment (13-2921), or even endangerment to your spouse or a child (if one was present during the altercation) (13-1201). However if you were drugged with ketamine against your will, that may operate as a defense against any forthcoming indictment.... Read More