Brown & Little, P.L.C. » Archive
An Irritating Non-Lesser Included Offense
I recently discussed lesser included offenses. Although Arizona’s practice of looking to the statute instead of the facts is frustrating enough in principle alone, there are some instances where I am particularly bothered by what a defendant can’t get as a lesser included offense. One instance involves felony flight. In an unpublished decision released this past September, Arizona’s Division One Court of Appeals looked at whether someone accused of felony flight could request a lesser included instruction for failure to stop. The felony flight statute applies to a driver who wilfully flees or attempts to elude a police vehicle with lights and sirens, and the failure to stop statute applies to a driver who knowingly fails or refuses to bring his or her vehicle to a stop after … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Cases, Arizona Statutes
Jury Trial Shenanigans
The US Constitution says you get an impartial jury “[i]n all criminal prosecutions.” The Arizona Constitution says you get an impartial jury “in criminal prosecutions.” A misdemeanor is a criminal prosecution, so you get a jury trial, right? If you agree, it probably means you haven’t had the good fortune of spending three years in law school. Those three years are essential if you want to learn the super-important lawyer skill of looking at something really clear and interpreting it to mean something different from what it obviously means. The most important lesson lawyers-to-be learn in law school is that constitutions, statutes, and rules don’t always mean what they say. Sometimes, they don’t even mean what they mean. Nowhere are those important law school lessons more impressively … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Cases, SCOTUS Cases, US Constitution
Lesser Included Offenses
In many cases that go to trial, it is important to request that the judge give the jury a lesser included offense instruction. That means that you ask the judge to tell the jury that the crime with which the defendant has been charged includes a lesser crime and that, if they feel the facts warrant it, they can find the defendant guilty of the lesser crime instead of the charged crime. For instance, in Arizona, theft is a lesser included offense of robbery, so if you are accused of robbery, the judge can tell the jury that they can find you guilty of theft instead. Some jurors don’t like the fact they only have two options (guilty or not guilty), so a lesser included offense instruction gives them … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Cases
Can't Make Out Your VIN?
If your answer to that question is “yes,” there’s a chance your vehicle is going to become property of the State of Arizona at some point in the future. A.R.S. § 28-4594(A) provides that when the VIN of a vehicle or of a major component of a vehicle has been removed, defaced, altered or destroyed without the permission the Arizona Department of Transportation, the vehicle is contraband. If the state decides your vehicle is contraband, it can seize and destroy it. That might mean that every vehicle with a non-manufacturer or out-of-state VIN on any major component could be seized when driven or ridden through Arizona. When a new VIN is attached by another state to any major part of a recovered vehicle, that vehicle might be forever … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Statutes
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