Tucson DUI & Criminal Defense Blog

There are exhaustive amounts of DUI case law that address the level of reasonable suspicion needed for a DUI stop, when and how breathalyzers and blood tests can be used as scientific evidence of impairment, and how field sobriety tests must be conducted to be used as evidence of probable cause for arrest. But, new technologies for alcohol detection that are currently available or will soon be available are likely to result in new case law that addresses the accuracy and use of these technologies to make legal determinations of impairment or impose other collateral consequences on impaired drivers.

If you are convicted of DUI in Arizona, this information will be shared with various governmental entities and private parties can also access the information through certain channels. Even before you are convicted, there could be certain parties that receive notice of your arrest. This means that, in addition to jail time and restrictions on your ability to drive, even the accusation of a DUI can have long-lasting impacts on your ability to work in your profession, your professional reputation, your immigration status, and even your ability to travel to certain other countries.

In Arizona, repeat felony offenders face harsher sentencing guidelines than first-time offenders. When prosecutors “stack” charges, defendants can be sentenced as repeat offenders even if the defendant has no prior convictions. Under current guidelines, as long as a prosecutor can prove that crimes were committed on separate occasions, the crimes can be prosecuted in the same trial but for the second and subsequent offenses, the defendant is sentenced as a repeat offender.

Yes! Jurisdictions all over the country are faced with cases of individuals using or threatening to use Covid-19 as a “weapon” to harm others. You may have seen the now viral video of a woman who was seen coughing on produce in a grocery store, but that is only the tip of the iceberg and different jurisdictions are handling these situations in different ways.

Proposed reforms to Arizona’s asset forfeiture rules failed this year, despite strong support. Analysis of
state data shows that forfeitures fall heaviest on people who cannot afford an attorney, most cases
involves small amounts of money, and crime victims receive little compensation.

Even the most experienced immigration lawyers can sometimes be completely baffled as to why USCIS denies a particular petition, especially when USCIS claims the applicant committed some type of fraud. In these cases, it can be very difficult to obtain the exact information which led to the finding, which also makes it difficult to develop a strategy for appealing the decision.

The Paycheck Protection Program is supposed to protect small businesses that otherwise might not weather the COVID-19 economic storm by providing low-interest forgivable loans primarily intended to preserve employment. The very smallest businesses – self-employed people and independent contractors – are also eligible. Unless, that is, the person has a felony conviction, even though it is precisely these people who have the greatest difficulty finding employment after serving their sentence.

There are clear rulings from the Courts regarding the responsibility of defense attorneys to inform their clients of the potential immigration consequences of a plea deal in a criminal case, and a slew of cases where the Court made “ineffective assistance of counsel” findings under these circumstances. Still, there have not been as many precedent cases clearly addressing errors made by immigration attorneys in immigration cases. Last week, the 9th circuit ruled in favor of an applicant for permanent residence in Peters v. Barr, who was caught in a 14-year-long “bureaucratic nightmare” due to the action (and inaction) of her immigration attorney, back in 2006.

We hope you are all well. We’ve had a lot of questions lately about court appearances in Tucson on criminal matters in light of the National and State Emergencies. For the most part, other initial appearances after custodial arrest, and certain in-custody matters and orders of protection, most criminal matters in Tucson are temporarily continued, at least for the next few weeks, as we explain below. A couple things to keep in mind:

It is unknown whether any Arizona law enforcement agencies are using the new facial recognition technology sold by a company called Clearview AI, but since over 2200 entities are using this technology, it is highly likely it is being used here in Arizona.