Aggravated Assault Lawyer in Scottsdale, AZ

The office prosecuting you is probably not the one most Scottsdale defendants deal with. The city's Prosecution Division works misdemeanors in Scottsdale City Court, and its own page says felonies committed in Scottsdale belong to the County Attorney or the state Attorney General. The County Attorney carries most of them; the Attorney General's Office takes a smaller group, often when the alleged conduct reached into another county, a state agency led the work, or the County Attorney sent it there. We handle these matters whichever office brought the charge. Either way, the downtown criminal complex hears the case: the Central Court Building, 201 W. Jefferson St., or the South Court Tower, 175 W. Madison St. Confirm the building on your current notice. A Maricopa County felony skips the justice courts entirely.

Aggravated assault is a felony because the State has alleged one of the circumstances listed in A.R.S. 13-1204. Among them are serious physical injury, a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, a fracture or temporary but substantial disfigurement, and a victim the statute protects, such as a first responder. Take that circumstance away and the accusation that remains is a misdemeanor assault, which for a Scottsdale Police report is typically a City Court matter and is covered on our Scottsdale assault page.

Follow-up work goes to the police department's Investigations section, which the city describes as "specialized detectives and analysts" handling persons and property crimes, and the city's Family Advocacy Center lists Crimes Against Persons investigators among its teams. The patrol report is often just the opening chapter. A detective may gather medical records, talk to witnesses again and ask to hear your side.

Scottsdale also runs its own crime scene and laboratory operation. The Forensic Services Division says its Crime Scene Unit may respond to assaults, using fingerprint processing, trace and biological evidence collection, photography and a 3-D laser scanner, and that the lab and crime scene unit hold ANAB accreditation. Latent print examiners compare prints from evidence items, and the Forensic Biology unit develops DNA profiles that can be searched in CODIS. When an ordinary object is called a dangerous instrument, how it was collected and tested is part of what we review.

A judge must see a person arrested on a felony within 24 hours for an initial appearance under Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.1, and someone not brought before a judge in that window is released. The release terms set there can include travel limits, a ban on possessing deadly weapons under A.R.S. 13-3967 and, for certain charges, a no-contact order with the alleged victim and electronic monitoring where it is available. On a felony charge, counsel attaches, and you can also hire your own lawyer at any point.

Some cases start with no arrest at all. Officers can document the incident and send it on for a charging decision, which for a felony usually rests with the County Attorney's Office rather than the city. Weeks of silence after a police contact can simply mean that review is still underway.

The allegation that changes the most is dangerousness. A.R.S. 13-704 makes prison mandatory on conviction for a dangerous offense, but the dangerous ranges apply only when that allegation is charged and then admitted or found by the jury or the judge. A dangerous finding also closes a door later, because A.R.S. 13-905(P) makes a set-aside unavailable for a dangerous offense. That allegation can be contested on its own, apart from the underlying charge.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. A felony assault conviction makes you a prohibited possessor under A.R.S. 13-3101 unless your rights are restored, and federal law separately bars gun possession after a conviction for a crime punishable by more than one year in prison. On any conviction, A.R.S. 13-603(C) requires restitution for the full amount of the victim's economic loss, which can be large in an injury case. If you are not a U.S. citizen, get advice from an immigration lawyer before you accept any plea.

Preserving the record. Police video, 911 audio, bystander phones, business and resort cameras, rideshare footage and crime scene photographs can each capture a different slice of what happened, and medical records often matter as much as video. We ask for what we can at the outset, before private systems record over it.

The injury question. How the charge describes the injury can change its class, and Assault Causing Serious Injury sets out those tiers. "Serious" has a legal meaning, built around a reasonable risk of death or permanent or protracted harm, and pain or a hospital visit alone does not automatically meet it. Emergency room notes, imaging and follow-up visits can show where an injury actually falls.

The object question. A deadly weapon means anything designed for lethal use, a firearm included. An everyday object is a dangerous instrument only if, given how it was actually used or threatened, it was readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury. Whether it was is a factual question about one moment, and the answer can decide which court hears the case.

The officer question. When the alleged victim is a Scottsdale officer, what the State has to prove about the officer's status is explained on the Assault on a Police Officer page. The department's transparency page says its use of force review documents every interaction that goes beyond typical handcuffing. Those reports belong in the review of an officer case, with the video and everyone's medical notes.

Justification. Self-defense is a genuine defense in Arizona. Under A.R.S. 13-404, force is justified when and to the extent a reasonable person would believe it immediately necessary to protect against unlawful force, and A.R.S. 13-405 sets the standard for deadly force. Words alone do not justify force, and the defense is limited for the person who provoked the fight. Once there is evidence of justification, A.R.S. 13-205 means the State has to disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Resolution. If a case resolves as a nondangerous offense, probation may be possible under A.R.S. 13-901, depending on the plea and your history, and probation can include up to one year in county jail as a condition. A dangerous sentence under 13-704(G) rules probation out, and whether a first responder allegation limits probation is covered on the statewide officer assault page. We test the injury, the object and the intent before any offer is weighed.

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. We take aggravated assault 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. It is our one office, and Scottsdale clients facing a felony meet with us there by appointment.