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A number of new bills are now pending in the legislature that could affect issues ranging from panhandling, to interacting with police officers, and more. Here are some of the latest proposed changes in the criminal justice system: Filming/viewing police activity....
Aggravating and Mitigating Factors When a felony offender is sentenced, the court considers what are referred to as aggravating and mitigating factors. These factors could lessen or enhance the sentence imposed on a defendant, meaning the person would serve more – or...
There are a number of topics related to the criminal justice system that have drawn the attention not only of criminal defense lawyers and prosecutors, but also the media and the public. Here are just a few of the wide-ranging issues that are currently being debated...
When we see films or TV programs involving courtroom scenes, there is often a reference to perjury. Usually, one of the lawyers is claiming that a witness committed perjury or is reminding the witness that lying under oath is a crime. The implication is that the...
Just what is “human trafficking” in Arizona? It is a term we hear all the time in the news. Some folks have certain notions of what it means, but according to the Department of Homeland Security, there are numerous myths in this area. Those myths include issues...
After spending more than 15 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Floyd Bledsoe decided to sue police officers and others who he says were responsible for the now-admitted miscarriage of justice. Bledsoe, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering his...
Without comment, the United States Supreme Court refused to void an Arizona law that allows criminal defendants to be convicted and sentenced by juries of 8 people. Arizona is one of only a handful of states that allow juries of less than 12 members to convict a...
In the wake of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by the United States Supreme Court, the issue in Arizona became the enforcement of a law that criminalizes virtually all abortions, making most abortions felonies. The law, which is more than one hundred years old and was...
Over the past several decades, the debate has continued over marijuana and the criminal laws that apply to it. As of today, around three quarters of the states have legalized marijuana in one form or another – either for medical or recreational use, or both. At the...
Most people assume that when you get a traffic ticket – for running a red light, for example, that the potential penalty is a fine, and maybe you’ll take a hit on your auto insurance. In fact, there are motor vehicle violations, in addition to DUI, of course, that are...
A new law was recently passed in Arizona. HB 2319 prohibits anyone, in most instances, from making a video recording within eight feet of “police activity.” While most areas of the country appear to be concentrating on transparency in police operations, Arizona seeks...
Hazing is not new. It exists in many colleges, high schools, and other educational facilities. It includes abuse as part of “pre-initiation activities” for clubs, fraternities, sororities, athletic teams, social groups, etc. And until now, Arizona was one of only six...
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. There are a number of different analogs of the drug, but a typical dose of fentanyl is perhaps 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times as potent as morphine. While fentanyl has been used to bolster the effect of illegal drugs since...
For those of you who don’t know, expungement is the process in which a conviction, an arrest or the filing of a criminal charge is erased from the record. Effectively, it would, for most purposes, be as if the conviction, arrest or charge never happened. Arizona does...
Self-defense has been a hot topic over the years. And there is a fair amount of confusion over what self-defense is, when it can be raised by a criminal defendant, and the mechanics of how the issue is decided in a criminal case. What is Self-Defense? Self-defense is...