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If you have been accused of driving under the influence (DUI) in Phoenix or its surrounding areas in Maricopa County, the first thing you must understand is that in Arizona, DUI laws have harsh penalties if you are convicted.
This is why having an experienced Phoenix DUI attorney on your side from the start is so important.
If you have been charged with a DUI in Arizona, a DUI defense lawyer from Rosenstein Law Group can help you navigate the criminal justice system. We are the only law firm in Northern and Central Arizona that has certified DUI and Criminal Law Specialists as dedicated attorneys on its staff.
Call us at (480) 248-7666 any time, any day, to schedule a free initial consultation with a Phoenix DUI lawyer.
Arizona laws have increasing degrees of punishment for increasing levels of intoxication. The measure of these intoxication levels is your blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
The three main types of Arizona DUI, based on BAC levels, are per se DUI, extreme DUI, and super extreme DUI.
For most people, the threshold BAC level in Arizona to be charged with DUI is 0.08. A DUI is misdemeanor-level if the BAC level is between 0.08 and 0.14. For holders of commercial drivers’ licenses, this minimum level drops to 0.04.
For example, if a truck driver with a valid CDL gets stopped while on the job and provides a chemical test that reveals a blood alcohol content of 0.04 or more, the driver could be potentially convicted of a DUI.
An extreme DUI charge becomes possible when the BAC level is 0.15 to 0.19.
A BAC level above 0.20 can result in a super extreme DUI charge.
In addition to the three main kinds of DUI charges above, Arizona law recognizes some forms warrant their own special classifications.
These include Aggravated DUI and Underage DUI.
Some aggravating circumstances can turn a misdemeanor DUI into a felony-level aggravated DUI charge. These include:
Because it is illegal in Arizona for a person under the age of 21 to consume alcohol, any detectable BAC level is sufficient to qualify as an underage DUI.
The two main punishments for a DUI charge are fines and incarceration. These punishments escalate along with the severity of the underlying conviction.
Penalties for a per se DUI conviction vary depending on the circumstances. The most important consideration is whether the conviction is your first one or if you have had one or more prior DUI convictions.
The possible punishments for a first-time per se DUI include:
If you have a prior DUI conviction dating to within 84 months of a subsequent per se DUI conviction, then the possible penalties for the new conviction increase as follows:
An extreme DUI carries the same kinds of penalties as a misdemeanor DUI, only the punishments are more severe. Also similar to misdemeanor DUI is the increasing severity of punishment for a subsequent extreme DUI charge after an earlier DUI conviction.
For the first extreme DUI conviction, the following sanctions apply:
An extreme DUI conviction that follows a prior DUI conviction within the past 84 months triggers enhanced penalties.
A super extreme DUI conviction is the next step up in penalty levels for driving under the influence. Super-extreme follows the same pattern as misdemeanor and extreme DUIs: penalties become more severe if you have a prior DUI conviction.
Here is what you can expect on a first-time super extreme DUI conviction:
A super extreme DUI conviction that comes within 84 months of an earlier DUI conviction carries more severe penalties, including:
A DUI that occurs with a child less than 15 years old in the vehicle is a class 6 felony in Arizona. As with all felony convictions, the harshness of the punishments is substantially greater than with a misdemeanor DUI charge.
There are two main legal differences between an underage DUI conviction and an adult misdemeanor DUI. One is that an underage DUI does not impose any minimum fines or jail sentences. Instead, the law allows for a jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to $750.
The other difference is that an underage DUI can result in a mandatory two-year restricted driver’s license and required installation of an ignition interlock device.
Another characteristic of underage DUI is that it often is but one charge of multiple charges that can arise from the same facts. For example, possession of alcohol by a minor is illegal, as is distributing alcohol to underage passengers in a vehicle. Using false identification to purchase alcohol is a crime. An adult driver with underage passengers who consume alcohol could even be subject to a charge of child endangerment.
Lastly, in a case where an underage DUI occurs in connection with a fatal motor vehicle accident, this can lead to a felony charge of vehicular manslaughter and possible adult charges for teenagers aged 14 to 17.
Multiple levels of punishment exist for aggravated DUI.
An aggravated DUI involving driving on a suspended or revoked license, not having an ignition interlock device when one is required, driving the wrong way on an Arizona highway, or having two prior DUI convictions can trigger the following class 4 felony punishments.
Convictions for these offenses (the third DUI conviction taking place within 84 months of the first one) are class 4 felonies under Arizona law and come with severe penalties. You can expect to see the following punishments and sanctions:
Police agencies across Arizona, including Phoenix, often join to form DUI task forces on certain days of the year. These task forces often result in an increase of drivers getting stopped for DUI investigations. Here are the most common days that law enforcement will assemble their task force units:
Additionally, these task forces are implemented near the start of a school year, during spring and winter breaks, sporting events at Arizona State, Phoenix Suns games, Arizona Cardinal football games, and days that involve either Barrett Jackson or the Phoenix Waste Management Open.
Defending against a DUI charge can seem like an impossible task, especially if the police have BAC evidence against you. As our experienced DUI defense attorneys can attest, however, your situation may not be hopeless. Police are human beings, and human beings can make mistakes.
These errors can violate your rights under the United States Constitution and the Arizona state constitution, including your right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures, your right to privacy, and your ability to effectively defend yourself in court.
Courts in Arizona are not very forgiving of police or prosecutor mistakes in DUI cases. They have to get it right to get a conviction. Accordingly, depending on the facts of your DUI arrest and other considerations afterward, you may have one or more defenses against a DUI charge in Phoenix. We examine some frequently-used DUI defenses below.
Police must be careful to follow established procedures when stopping and arresting a driver for suspected DUI. Failing to follow these procedures, starting with the criteria to decide whether to make a DUI traffic stop, can be fatal to a DUI prosecution.
For example, did the police officer have sufficient grounds to stop you in the first place? What were the grounds for reasonable suspicion that you were driving under the influence? If you were subjected to DUI field sobriety tests, did the officer perform these properly?
If the officer arrested you for DUI while you were in a parked vehicle trying to “sleep it off,” can you argue that you were only using the car to shelter in instead of being in control of it?
Any deviation from accepted police procedures when determining reasonable suspicion to stop you or probable cause to arrest you for DUI can be fatal to the government’s DUI case against you.
Not all the DUI evidence the police claim to have against you is necessarily admissible in court.
If the police officer makes a mistake in gathering evidence, or later on the police chain of custody for the evidence breaks down and allows the possibility that the evidence has been compromised, these are defenses that, if successful, could preclude a DUI conviction against you. Many times, officers are in a rush and produce reports that copy exact language from previous reports, resulting in police report inconsistencies.
For example, if the police officer who administered your field sobriety tests was not properly trained to administer them, or if the officer who used a breathalyzer to measure your BAC level was not properly trained to use it or to calibrate it, these deficiencies can call into question the validity of the test results.
Trained officers are required to provide an arrested driver with their Miranda Rights before asking any investigation questions. Officers are also required to provide the driver with the opportunity to contact and obtain an attorney in private. Additionally, the police are required to inform people that they have a right to an independent chemical test as quickly as possible.
When officers fail to provide Miranda warnings, ignore a driver’s request to speak to an attorney, or fail to properly advise a driver of his or her right to an independent chemical test, evidence can be suppressed and the case may be dismissed as well.
If our description of Arizona DUI laws and all their variations above does nothing else for you, it should make clear that defending yourself in Maricopa County Superior Court against a DUI charge in this state is a high-risk strategy.
DUI laws may seem conceptually simple at first glance, but they can be complex to understand in their details, especially in a courtroom against a prosecuting attorney who knows those laws well.
Having a trained and experienced Arizona DUI lawyer to represent you in court cannot guarantee you an acquittal in a DUI case. The state will always have powerful resources to use against you, including technology, witness testimony, and taxpayer funding. But an experienced Phoenix DUI attorney from the Rosenstein Law Group can help even the odds in your favor.
An experienced DUI lawyer, like one of our Phoenix DUI attorneys, will know what it takes to prepare your best possible aggressive DUI defense.
The stakes for you in a DUI case are too high to leave to chance. If you are convicted, the loss of freedom—not just time spent in jail or prison, but also the inconveniences of license revocations or restrictions, ignition interlock devices, and possible community service and probation—and the financial costs are only the beginning of the negative effects on you.
A felony DUI conviction, in particular, can haunt you for years after the event, because the conviction stays on your record. It can affect your ability to find employment. It can make it harder and more expensive for you to find car insurance. If you are seeking a professional license, it can complicate your efforts.
If you are facing a DUI charge in Phoenix or anywhere else in Arizona, then put one of our high-quality, experienced Phoenix DUI lawyers on your side. Call our Phoenix DUI attorneys today at (480) 248-7666 to set up a free initial consultation. We will review the charges with you, explore the facts, and make recommendations for what to do next in preparing your legal defense.
If you prefer, you can contact Rosenstein Law Group online as well as by phone. Either way, do not wait to get started. Help us to help you prepare your DUI defense by calling us today.