Homicide Lawyer in Scottsdale, AZ

Scottsdale Police publishes no homicide unit by name. Patrol officers from the Uniformed Services Bureau take the first call and hold the scene; persons crimes then belong to the Investigations section, a team of specialized detectives and analysts that the department reserves for complex work. Expect weeks of interviews, records requests and lab results after that first night.

Physical evidence usually stays in-house. The Forensic Services Division's Crime Scene Unit lists homicides and other death investigations among its call-outs and documents scenes with fingerprint work, biological and trace collection, shoe and tire impressions, photographs, diagrams and a 3-D laser scanner. Accreditation comes from ANAB for the crime laboratory, the scene unit and the Digital Forensics Unit, and the DNA section also follows the FBI's quality assurance standards before profiles go into CODIS. What the division's page does not list is a firearms section, so if a weapon, bullet or casing was compared, find out which outside laboratory did it.

Deaths from violence and deaths that are unexpected or unexplained go to the county medical examiner. Its autopsy, toxicology and investigator notes on cause and manner of death are often where the causation fight begins, and independent pathologists can review them when the conclusions are debatable.

All four homicide offenses are felonies, and Scottsdale's prosecutor page sends state felonies to county or state prosecutors, so these cases skip City Court entirely and go downtown. In the County Attorney's Office, the Capital Litigation Bureau handles first degree murder prosecutions where the State is seeking death. That bureau says its lawyers take calls at any hour to come to homicide scenes and give legal guidance to police, then typically keep the case through trial. The office assigns its other homicide cases to specialists in units such as the Family Violence and Gang bureaus and the Criminal Trial Division, and crimes involving vehicle collisions belong to its Vehicular Crimes Bureau.

Charging comes after review. The County Attorney's outline says a prosecutor can return a submission for more work, turn it down, refer it to another jurisdiction or bring charges, and homicide charges frequently arrive by grand jury indictment. In that room only the State presents; no defense lawyer is there to cross-examine anyone.

After a homicide booking, the person is generally brought before a judge at ITR, the county's 24-hour booking center at 2670 S. 28th Dr., Phoenix; under Rule 4.1, that must happen within 24 hours of arrest. Arizona law allows bail to be refused for some charges, among them a capital offense where the proof is evident or the presumption great, and the first ruling usually comes before the defense has seen the evidence, though the issue can be raised again. A secured bond, if one is set, goes to the bond room at the jail on South 4th Avenue, paid in person through the Sheriff's Office and never by app or wire, according to the Superior Court. Pretrial Services, out of the South Court Tower, can enforce terms such as no contact with named witnesses, stay-away orders, drug testing and an ankle monitor.

Counsel attaches on any felony charge, and an indigent defendant gets an appointed lawyer. The choices that shape these cases usually come first, though: whether to give an interview, whether to unlock a phone, and whether anyone is saving video and locating witnesses in the first week.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. A plea to a lesser homicide count still means a felony record and often prison. A.R.S. 13-911(O) excludes dangerous offenses and serious, violent or aggravated felonies, as defined in other sections, from sealing. A felony conviction leaves a person a prohibited possessor until the right to possess firearms is restored, and federal law can impose its own bar. A conviction tied to a crash can also trigger license action by MVD. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen needs immigration advice before any plea.