Articles Posted in Uncategorized

If you are facing felony charges in Arizona, you may assume you are entitled to a 12-person jury under the Sixth Amendment. In some cases, however, state law provides for a smaller jury. Whether that decision is up to you depends on the type of offense and the potential sentence. A recent appeals court ruling…

If you’re facing serious felony charges in Phoenix and think certain statements made during a police interview might have tainted your trial, a recent Arizona Court of Appeals decision shows how difficult it is to overturn a conviction on those grounds. In State v. Narayan, decided in April 2025, the court upheld a sexual assault…

On November 20, 2015, the Supreme Court of Arizona decided Dobson v. McClennen (P.3d, 2015 WL 7353847, Arizona Supreme Court 2015). The decision has important implications for individuals that use medical marijuana and might have THC or its metabolite in their system but drive at a time when they are not impaired. Jokingly called the “Driving While a…

Criminal jury trials for serious offenses in Arizona are complex and high-stakes proceedings, where the fairness and impartiality of the jury are paramount. Arizona law requires that jurors remain unbiased and free from outside influences that could cloud their judgment. However, achieving this ideal can be challenging, as jurors are human beings who bring their…

Under Arizona law, courts must assume that any juvenile suspect’s confession to a crime is involuntary, unless there is reason to think otherwise. This means that if a young individual is accused of a crime, and if that individual confesses to the crime, the individual can later argue that his confession was involuntary. At that…

As you may know, hearsay is a statement made out of court that a litigant tries to use in court. The second element of hearsay that you may not know, however, is that the statement must be offered “for the truth of the matter” it asserts. If this element is not present, the court will…

In Arizona, a police officer cannot keep a driver in a traffic stop against his or her will without a legal basis to do so. Arizona case law specifically says that the appropriate duration for a traffic stop depends on the stop’s “mission” and on how long it takes the officer to address any safety…

Recently, an Arizona appellate court addressed the lower court’s new changes in procedure made in response to the Covid-19 public health emergency. The appellate court denied a defendant’s challenges to these changes, which included the option for potential jurors to appear by video instead of in-person and the decrease in peremptory strikes during jury selection.…

In a unanimous decision, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that hashish qualifying patients under the AMMA are permitted to possess and use hashish because the statutory definition of “marijuana” includes resin, and by extension, hashish. With evolving court opinions and rapid changes in legislation, this article outlines current laws associated with medical marijuana, alternative forms of cannabis; differences between cannabis, marijuana, and hemp; impacts of recent federal and state legislation, criminal penalties for violations; and criminal defense topics.

A DUI breath or chemical test is considered a protected search under the 4th Amendment. This requires police to have a warrant for probable cause in order to conduct a DUI breath, blood or urine test. This is the case, even if it is administered under Arizona’s Implied Consent Law. Arizona courts have held that if a person was coerced by the officer to take the DUI test then their consent is not voluntary (State of Arizona v. Valenzuela, 2016). Thus, an involuntary consent does not relieve police of the requirement to obtain a warrant.
The Arizona Supreme Court recently issued a written opinion in an Arizona DUI case centered on the issue of whether the defendant’s consent to provide a blood test was voluntary or involuntary. This article outlines the recent Arizona Supreme Court opinion, Q. & A. surrounding Arizona’s Implied Consent Law.