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2/25/16 Arizona Court of Appeals holds that an element of a Driving On Suspended License charge is that the defendant knew or should have known their license was suspended. In Arizona a person can be convicted of the class 1 misdemeanor criminal offense of driving on a suspended license (DOSL). If found guilty, the…
2/25/16 In Arizona a person can be found guilty of DUI even though they are not driving. This concept is known as Actual Physical Control. A person is in Actual Physical Control if they actually posed a threat to the public by the exercise of present or imminent control over a motor vehicle while impaired. …
2/24/16 US Supreme Court Rules 911 Call with Limited Corroboration Can Justify the Stop of a Motor Vehicle For DUI. The fourth amendment to the United States Constitution protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. Information the police receive in anonymous 911 calls by themselves cannot serve as a legal basis to justify the…
2/24/16 License plate recognition readers or scanners (LPR’s) are no longer new technology. Despite being plagued from the beginning of their use by concerns over privacy violations, data retention/storage and the possibility of the retained data being abused or exploited for purposes for which it was never intended, use of LPR is now widespread. Some…
2/23/16 Scottsdale’s ordinance barring Public Intoxication is unconstitutional because it conflicts with Arizona state law. Scottsdale City Code (“S.C.C.”) section 19-8(a) makes being “incapacitated by alcohol in public,” a class 1 misdemeanor. Arizona statute 36-2031 prohibits local laws criminalizing conduct having as an element of an offense “being a common drunkard or being found…
2/23/16 The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) bars forgery prosecution of a physician for falsely certifying they have reviewed the patient’s medical history. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) allows a person to obtain a Marijuana Medical Card if a physician issues a written certification that a patient has a “debilitating medical condition.” Arizona…
2/22/16 180-day jail sentence for second offense misdemeanor .20% Extreme DUI is not unconstitutional because it is greater than the 4-month minimum sentence than for a felony DUI. The mandatory minimum sentence for a second offense misdemeanor .20% Extreme DUI is 180 days in jail. The mandatory minimum for a Class 4 felony DUI…
2/22/16 Arizona weapons possessors may be subject to serious criminal penalties if they take weapons to another state. Driver’s licenses issued under Arizona law are recognized as valid throughout the United States. What people may not realize is that while Arizona weapons laws give many people the right to possess weapons, unlike driver’s licenses…
2/22/16 Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) says motor vehicle crash fatalities rose in 2015 from 2014. On February 19, 2016 the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) said preliminary figures indicate that motor-vehicle accident deaths increased from 773 in 2014 to 891 in 2015. Although the 2015 total is less than the all-time high in…
2/19/16 Arizona Court of Appeals holds odor of marijuana can justify probable cause notwithstanding AMMA. In State v. Cheatham, the Arizona Court of Appeals held that the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) does not prevent police officers from using the odor of burnt marijuana as probable cause to justify a search. In Cheatham the…