Resisting Arrest Lawyer in Tempe, AZ

A.R.S. 13-2508 makes it a crime to intentionally prevent, or try to prevent, someone you reasonably know is a peace officer acting with official authority from making an arrest. How you allegedly did it sets the class. The lower tier, a class 1 misdemeanor, is passive resistance, defined as a nonviolent physical act or failure to act aimed at impeding, hindering or delaying the arrest. The upper tier, a class 6 felony, covers force or a threat of force against the officer or anyone else, and any other means that creates a substantial risk of physical injury.

That split decides which Tempe office you will deal with. When Tempe Police make the arrest and the charge is the passive form, the case generally belongs to the Criminal Division of the Tempe City Attorney's Office, known as the Prosecutor's Office, in Suite 301 at 140 E. Fifth Street. That office prosecutes misdemeanors committed inside Tempe, and those cases are heard at Tempe Municipal Court in the same building. If the State alleges force or a risk of injury, the case leaves the city: the Maricopa County Attorney's Office generally reviews the felony, and Superior Court hears it in the downtown criminal complex. Confirm the building on your current notice. A felony does not pass through a justice court along the way.

A resisting count rarely travels alone. It often comes with whatever started the encounter, such as a DUI investigation, a disorderly conduct call, a warrant check or a domestic dispute, and sometimes with an assault count against an officer drawn from the same struggle. Each count is judged on its own elements, and the class of each one can change which courtroom you end up in.

Recordings carry a lot of weight on this charge. Tempe Police's public records request page lists body-worn camera video among the records people commonly ask for, and the department's directory lists a Forensic Services Unit and a Traffic Section. In a pending case, though, the defense usually gets video faster through the prosecutor: on a city case, through the Prosecutor's Office discovery request process. Different officers' cameras can show the same seconds from different angles and distances, and what was said just before the handcuffs often matters as much as what happened after.

Rule 4.1 requires an initial appearance within 24 hours of arrest. Someone booked into the county jail on the felony form sees a judge at the Intake, Transfer and Release facility, 2670 S. 28th Dr. Whatever the route, keep the release paperwork, because Tempe Municipal Court says the release order lists your court date. If a citation was handed to you at the scene instead, the court treats the appearance date printed on it as your arraignment.

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).

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Even the misdemeanor version of resisting arrest can show up on a background check for jobs in security, schools, health care or government, and licensing boards may ask about it. A felony conviction makes a person a prohibited possessor under A.R.S. 13-3101 until the right to possess a firearm is restored. Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen should get immigration advice before agreeing to a plea.