Misdemeanor Lawyer in Tempe, AZ

Most misdemeanors that start with Tempe Police end up in one building. Tempe Municipal Court, 140 E. Fifth Street (Suite 200 on the court's own pages), hears misdemeanor and criminal traffic cases from within the city and keeps its doors open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The State's side is handled by the Criminal Division of the Tempe City Attorney's Office, also called the Prosecutor's Office, in Suite 301 of the same address. That office brings misdemeanors charged under Arizona statutes and the Tempe City Code, and DUI is among them.

Not every Tempe ticket lands there. When a state trooper or a Sheriff's deputy investigated, a Maricopa County justice court can receive the misdemeanor instead, and in that court the County Attorney's Office prosecutes. On university land, ASU Police hold original jurisdiction, and no official source we read says which court takes their misdemeanors. In each of those situations, the court printed on your citation or summons is the one to follow.

How the case got started matters less than people think. Many Tempe misdemeanors involve no booking at all: the officer writes a citation or complaint and releases the person at the scene. Others begin after a night in custody, with a release order that lists the court date. Whatever the start, Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.1 requires anyone held to see a judge within 24 hours of arrest or be released. The Tempe Police department directory lists a Detention Facility. A third path is quieter: the officer submits a report and the prosecutor decides later whether to charge.

Do not assume the court will appoint you a lawyer. Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 6.1(b) entitles an indigent defendant to appointed counsel in a proceeding that may result in punishment by loss of liberty. In misdemeanor court, the prosecutor can avow that no jail will be requested and the judge can rule that no jail will be imposed, and once that happens, there is no right to appointed counsel at all. Arizona's Court of Appeals upheld exactly that in Campa v. Fleming, 134 Ariz. 330 (App. 1982), on a class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail, for a defendant who was on probation and facing immigration consequences.

The Tempe court words its own guidance with care. Its criminal case page says a court-appointed attorney may be provided in certain types of cases, that someone who cannot afford a lawyer may apply, and that a defendant may be ordered to contribute to that attorney's cost. Other than yourself, only an attorney may represent you.

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Paying a fine on a criminal charge is still a conviction. A Tempe misdemeanor record can surface on background checks for work, rentals and licenses, and for some later charges it can count as a prior. A student may also face a university conduct process. For anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, even a low-level plea can carry immigration consequences worth checking before the plea is entered.