Criminal Offenses
Arizona law does not provide for expungement of criminal cases and records. A bill introduced in the Arizona State Senate would change that law to allow the court to vacate convictions and order the expungement of records for certain offenses. State Senator Judy Burges has sponsored in the 2017 First Regular Legislative…
In In re $15,379 IN U.S. Currency, No. 2 CA-CV 2015-0166 (12/22/16), the Arizona Court of Appeals held that a trial court erred when it refused to order a County Attorney to return currency which had been seized from an appellant after the civil forfeiture proceeding in which the County Attorney sought to…
In State v. Linares, No. 1 CA-CR 15-0810 (1/01/17), the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed a restitution award because the court held the award was for a cost incurred in the investigation of the crime, and not a cost incurred as a direct result of the defendant’s criminal actions. In an Arizona criminal…
The Arizona Court of Appeals in State v. Francis, No. 1 CA-CR 16-0051 (1/3/17), held that the crime of promoting prison contraband requires proof the defendant knew the item of property was in fact prison contraband. In the case, the defendant was detained at a Jail Annex on unrelated charges. Officers took the defendant’s…
In State v. Cope, No. 1 CA-CR 14-0596, (12/30/16), the Court of Appeals held that the offense of Shoplifting under 13A.R.S. § 1805.A.1, is a lesser included offense of Organized Retail Theft, 13 A.R.S. § 1819.A.1 and therefore the defendant could not be convicted of and punished for both offenses. The court went on…
Division Two of the Arizona Court of Appeals recently held that the trial court erred when it refused to suppress the use at trial of drugs and illegal weapons found in a search of an alleged shoplifter’s backpack. In the case, State v. Synder, No. 2 CA-CR 2015-0077, 10/7/16, the defendant was detained and…
Certain sections of Arizona’s highways will soon be designated zero tolerance safety corridors, where the State intends to saturate traffic enforcement efforts in an attempt to curb traffic accidents, injuries and deaths in areas identified as high-risk. The new enforcement efforts have already gone into effect for two sections of I-10 in central…
Phoenix Police Department Chief Jeri Williams has reassigned about 170 officers to patrol duty in an attempt to beef up its police presence on the street and better police response time. Hiring has been essentially frozen since the economic crisis of 2008, leading to a decrease in law enforcement staff from about 3,400 in…
Those suffering from serious mental illness and/or developmental disabilities and charged with a criminal offense may be eligible to participate in mental-health court, an intensive mental health treatment program, in exchange for dismissal of those criminal charges. This allows for intervention and treatment to assist the mentally ill instead of a criminal record, jail time,…
Following legislation enacted this past May, and signed into law by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, the two new Arizona Supreme Court Justice positions created by that legislation have been filled by Governor Ducey, changing the five-seat panel to a seven-seat panel. Republicans Andrew Gould, currently an Arizona Court of Appeals Justice, and John…