Arizona DUI Proceedings

Like most other court proceedings, the Arizona DUI proceedings are complex and depend on a lot of variables. The most important and one that often decides the fate of the case is whether the DUI has been registered as a misdemeanour or a felony. A misdemeanour carries less sentence or fine than a felony.

The DUI proceedings in Arizona do not always follow one line of process. Before a criminal court case is initiated, an accused has to go through an MVD hearing session.

This hearing has a direct bearing on the right of the person to drive in Arizona. This, should, therefore, take an equal priority. There are also deadlines imposed by the court on the hearings. An accused should be aware of this deadline, for failure to request a hearing before this said deadline, makes the defendant lose the right to the hearing.

The first step in the DUI criminal court proceedings is the appearance before the judge. This initiates the case and the presence of the accused is not required unless he or she has been charged DUI felony. In this first appearance, the charges against an accused are read. The extent of the charges decides whether one goes for a bail application or an appearance bond.

There is a preliminary hearing held after this, unless of course, an indictment has happened. The judge, in this hearing, decides the causes and evidence present and whether that was enough to press DUI charges against the accused. What can go wrong here is the pressing of additional charges, which may require the judge to order the accused back into custody.

The step after this is the arraignment ordering the accused to be present at the Superior Court. This usually happens only in cases of aggravated DUI charges in Arizona. Here the accused is informed of the charges and given a chance to answer them.

Next is a pre-trial conference, where the attorney of the accused is allowed to negotiate a plea with the prosecuting attorney. This is also the time for the issuance of the pre-trial motions.

After these, the actual DUI criminal trial is initiated. How the case is fought by both the attorneys will determine the sentence given to the accused. This could range from a simple and small jail sentence, to a prison term, unsupervised probation or even a formal probation. The sentence may also end up including a combination of the said punishments. The defendants' attorney has the chance to negotiate some alternative programs, instead of a jail or prison sentence. This can include electronic home monitoring, treatment, weekend work or even counselling.

By Peter Emerson