Aggravated DUI Lawyer in Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix Police make arrests on city streets, and state troopers work the freeways, but neither the City Prosecutor nor a justice court keeps an aggravated DUI. Phoenix Police state the division of labor on their own Vehicular Crimes Unit page: the Maricopa County Attorney's Office prosecutes felony charges, and the Phoenix City Prosecutor's Office prosecutes misdemeanors. Inside the county office, a Vehicular Crimes Bureau handles crimes involving motor vehicle collisions and cases where drivers are found driving under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription medication.

The felony comes from one added fact. A.R.S. § 28-1383 takes an ordinary or extreme DUI and adds one of five circumstances, listed in the next section. Four of the five make the charge a class 4 felony; the child passenger form makes it a class 6.

A booking after a Phoenix aggravated DUI arrest leads to Intake, Transfer and Release, the county facility on 28th Drive. The April 2026 Phoenix Police pamphlet for crime victims lists felony initial appearances there running on a three-hour cycle around the clock, and Arizona's criminal rules (Rule 4.1) set a 24-hour limit for that first hearing, failing which the person must be released. The judge sets release terms and any bond, and on a felony DUI the conditions can include limits on driving and on alcohol.

The County Attorney's guide to the adult criminal process describes two charging routes. One is a direct complaint, after which a judge holds a preliminary hearing on probable cause. The other is a grand jury, at least nine randomly selected citizens, voting on an indictment. Arraignment follows within ten days, the guide says. From there the case belongs to the downtown complex, at the Central Court Building, 201 W. Jefferson St., or the South Court Tower, 175 W. Madison St.; confirm the building on your current notice. Justice courts play no part in a felony here, even when a trooper made the arrest on I-10 or I-17.

Felony charges carry a right to counsel, so anyone unable to pay is given an appointed lawyer. Appointment arrives with the court process, though, and some of the most useful work in an aggravated DUI comes before that: ordering the ADOT record, pulling the court records of an earlier case, and asking for video before it is overwritten.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. A plea that keeps someone out of prison can still leave a felony record. Under A.R.S. § 13-904(A), a felony conviction suspends the rights to vote, to serve on a jury, to hold public office and to possess a firearm, and after an aggravated DUI conviction MVD must revoke the driving privilege and may not issue a new license for one year.

The administrative clock runs at the same time. If an officer served you a suspension notice under A.R.S. § 28-1385, the hearing request "must be received by the department within thirty days after the date of the notice," and that deadline does not wait for a grand jury or a preliminary hearing.

The charging decision. A Phoenix aggravated DUI reaches the County Attorney either straight from the arrest or after review of a report. When the extra fact surfaces later, a case can begin as a city misdemeanor citation and become a County Attorney felony instead. Read the newest paperwork you have, not the first.

Testing the extra fact. Each form of the charge leans on one piece of proof, and that proof is usually a record. In a license case, we compare MVD's mailing record and the address ADOT had for you with the date of the stop, because a suspension order under § 28-1385 takes effect thirty days after it is served. In a third-offense case, we read the certified judgments and, for an earlier Phoenix Municipal Court case, the audio of that plea, and we count the 84 months ourselves. In an interlock case, we read the order that imposed the requirement and the dates it covered.

Wrong-way cases on I-17. ADOT has described a thermal camera system on I-17 in Phoenix, from the I-10 Stack interchange near downtown to the Loop 101 interchange in north Phoenix, whose cameras alert DPS and ADOT the moment they detect a wrong-way vehicle and can light warnings on overhead message boards. When an allegation comes from that stretch, we ask what the system recorded, alongside dash and body camera video, 911 calls and the scene, because the definition turns on how the vehicle actually moved.

The underlying DUI. No aggravated DUI stands without a DUI under § 28-1381 or § 28-1382, so the reason for the stop, the roadside tests, the two-hour timing and actual physical control all remain contestable. Drug-based cases can take longer, because a drug toxicology request is a separate and often slower lab process than a blood alcohol test. Section 28-1381(D) also carves people whose drug use followed a licensed medical practitioner's prescription out of the metabolite paragraph.

Prison exposure. For the license, third-offense and wrong-way forms, § 28-1383(D) allows no probation and no release before four months of prison are served, and § 28-1383(E) makes it eight months for a third-offense conviction with three or more prior violations. The child passenger form carries at least the underlying DUI's minimum jail term. For the interlock form, the statewide aggravated DUI page sets out the sentencing rules.

DUI Court. Inside the Superior Court system, Adult Probation operates DUI Court as a treatment court following the national model. Its team pairs a judicial officer and probation personnel with the Public Defender's Office and contracted clinicians, and it is meant for people rated medium-high or high risk of reoffending. The court has said graduating can reduce the length of probation and financial obligations. Whether it fits a case is decided within the court and probation process.

Nova Law Group was built by Ryan Tait, a former Maricopa County Attorney's Office felony prosecutor. The practice is criminal defense first. We keep caseloads deliberately low, which means the lawyers on your case have time to actually watch the video and read the reports line by line. On an aggravated DUI, that also means the ADOT mailing record, the earlier judgments and the interlock paperwork, because the felony often rests on one document. We take cases to trial when trial is the right pressure. Overcharging happens, and a case that is genuinely prepared for trial changes the conversation with the prosecutor. Most criminal cases are quoted as a flat fee. Consultations are free and confidential.

Office: 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite C250, Phoenix, AZ 85018. Our office is on Camelback Road in Phoenix, and meetings are by appointment.