Probation Violation Lawyer in Tempe, AZ

Start with one question: which court granted the probation? A Tempe case can leave someone answering to either of two unconnected systems, and everything else (the supervising office, the courtroom, the exposure) follows from that answer. The judgment or the sentencing order will say.

City probation. Misdemeanors from inside Tempe go to Tempe Municipal Court, 140 E. Fifth Street, and are prosecuted by the City Attorney's Criminal Division. The City assigns its probation programs, together with diversion and home detention, to an office called Community Supervision. That office, upstairs at 3500 S. Rural Road, receives people sent over by the judge or the city prosecutors following a misdemeanor arrest, and its counselors assess each person's risks and needs. Community Supervision also staffs the East Valley Regional Veterans Court, a problem-solving court inside Tempe Municipal Court, sitting in on weekly staffings, doing intakes and pointing veterans toward treatment and schooling. When city probation goes wrong, the matter generally lands back with the Tempe judge who imposed it.

County probation. A Tempe felony ends in a Maricopa County Superior Court sentence, and any probation attached to it is the job of the Adult Probation Department. The department sums up its work as supervising probationers and making sure "court-mandated orders are achieved." Once probation is granted, its Presentence Assessment Center gives the person an officer's name and contact details, and the department's Information Center takes calls at 602-506-3204. Adult Probation keeps offices in several parts of the county; go where your written reporting instructions send you.

The felony courtroom. A county violation never passes through the Fifth Street courthouse. It goes back to the Superior Court division that granted probation, downtown in the Central Court Building, 201 W. Jefferson St., or the South Court Tower, 175 W. Madison St. Confirm the building on your current notice. On its warrant page, the court explains its bench warrants include probation violation warrants, that a warrant can be cleared only by the court that issued it, and that the Probation Violation court can be reached at 602-372-0427. Its advice is to find legal help the moment you discover a warrant.

What the hearing is. When the judge granted probation, the original sentence was put on hold, not cancelled. The petition asks the judge to take it off hold. The usual trial safeguards shrink: a judge rules without a jury, the State only has to tip the scales (a preponderance of the evidence), and Criminal Procedure Rule 27.8 opens the door to any reliable evidence that is not privileged, hearsay among it. You still have a right to counsel and to stay silent, a public hearing, and the ability to subpoena witnesses, cross-examine the State's and offer proof of your own.

A new Tempe arrest. A fresh charge can start a petition all on its own. When the new case is a felony and the person goes into the county jail, the initial appearance takes place at the county's Intake, Transfer and Release facility on South 28th Drive. Under Arizona's Rule 4.1, a day is the limit: if 24 hours pass after the arrest without that appearance, release follows. From then on there are two cases on two calendars. The proof standards are not the same, so even if the new charge is dropped or ends in an acquittal, the petition can survive, though the result often helps.

Your officer. Show up, be courteous, and handle scheduling. Hold off on explaining the alleged violation until a lawyer has advised you; on county probation it is the officer who drafts the petition, and anything you tell the officer can reach the judge.