James E. Novak
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In the United States, the standard of proof required to prevail in legal actions varies depending on the type of case. Criminal cases are held to the highest standard: proof beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that the prosecution must prove the defendant’s guilt to such a degree that there is no reasonable doubt in the mind of a rational person. This standard is much stricter than the preponderance of the evidence standard used in civil cases, which only requires that a fact is more likely true than not, or the clear and convincing evidence standard, which falls somewhere in between. Jurors in criminal trials are explicitly instructed to apply this rigorous standard, as it is a cornerstone of the justice system designed to protect the rights of the accused. However, even with these instructions, misunderstandings or misapplications of the standard can occur, as seen in a recent Arizona appellate case involving a man convicted of drug trafficking crimes.

The case began when a man was pulled over for speeding on an Arizona interstate. During the traffic stop, the officer noticed inconsistencies in the man’s story about his travel plans and the identity of his passenger. The officer eventually asked for consent to search the vehicle, which the man initially refused. However, after further questioning and the arrival of a K-9 unit, the man consented to the search. The search revealed a significant quantity of methamphetamine and fentanyl in luggage found in the car. The man was arrested and charged with transportation of dangerous drugs for sale and transportation of narcotic drugs for sale. At trial, the man testified that he had no knowledge of the drugs and claimed he was unaware of the luggage’s contents. Despite his testimony, the jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to prison. He later appealed his conviction, arguing that the prosecutor had misstated the reasonable doubt standard during closing arguments.

On appeal, the defendant argued that the prosecutor’s use of the phrase “reasonable likelihood” instead of the legally required “real possibility” language in the jury instructions had misled the jury about the burden of proof. The appellate court acknowledged the importance of the reasonable doubt standard and the need for precise language when explaining it to jurors. However, the court found that the defendant had not preserved this issue for appeal because his trial counsel had failed to object to the prosecutor’s statements at the time. As a result, the court reviewed the issue for fundamental error, which is a much higher bar to clear. The court ultimately concluded that even if the prosecutor’s phrasing was incorrect, the error was not prejudicial because the jury had been properly instructed on the reasonable doubt standard both verbally and in writing. The defendant’s conviction was upheld, and he will be required to serve his sentence.

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Violent crimes can be tricky to litigate and to defend in court. One source of recent conversation in the Arizona criminal legal sphere has been the crime of aggravated assault, and whether hurting multiple people through one assault counts as multiple crimes or only one crime. The answer to this question matters because, in general, the more charges a person faces, the more convictions he might have on his record and the more time he might spend in jail or prison. Recently, an Arizona court addressed this question as it relates to one person firing one shot that then hits and injures multiple people.

Victim-Driven v. Conduct Driven Offenses

If, during the course of committing a violent crime, a defendant fires one gunshot and injures multiple people from that one shot, the defendant is still eligible to face multiple convictions of assault. As an Arizona court explained in its recent ruling, assault is known as a “victim-driven offense” as opposed to a “conduct-driven offense.” For a conduct-driven offense, a person firing one shot might be eligible for only one conviction, no matter how many people are injured. For a victim-driven offense, though, it matters how many individuals were harmed by the shot when the State decides how many charges to bring against the defendant.

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If a police officer initiates a traffic stop for an alleged traffic violation in Arizona, the stop opens the door for the officer to find evidence of other possible criminal activity. In a recent case before an Arizona court, the defendant appealed his conviction for weapons misconduct, arguing that the officers that pulled him over for a traffic violation were actually just hoping to catch him in the act of additional criminal activity. Unfortunately, Arizona law affirmed that the defendant’s unlit license plate was reasonable grounds for the officers to a) stop the defendant and b) arrest him for unrelated criminal activity.

The Traffic Stop

The officers in this case were on patrol at a motorcycle rally, and they noticed that the defendant was wearing clothing consistent with a gang in Arizona. They approached the defendant, notifying him that he was operating a motorcycle without a license plate light. Upon additional conversation, the officers learned that the defendant was carrying a knife and a pistol. They later learned that he carried the pistol unlawfully. The defendant was both charged with and convicted of three counts of weapons misconduct.

The defendant took issue on appeal with the fact that the officers stopped him under the pretext of a missing license plate light when, in reality, they suspected additional criminal activity in the area and decided to act on those suspicions by finding a relatively small traffic code violation. This practice was unfair, said the defendant. It violated his constitutional rights, and his conviction should therefore be overturned.

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Sometimes, appeals courts are called upon to determine if a trial court made a “fundamental, prejudicial error” during trial. In certain circumstances, when the higher court finds that the lower court made this kind of critical error, the higher court will vacate the defendant’s guilty conviction. It is crucial, then, to understand what “prejudicial error” means during criminal court proceedings. That way, if you think the court has committed a prejudicial error against you during your case, you can move forward with potential grounds to get your guilty conviction thrown out.

Definition of “Prejudicial”

According to Arizona case law, to show prejudicial error, a defendant must show that without one particular error, a reasonable jury could have “plausibly and intelligently returned a different verdict.” Essentially, this means that a defendant must show that if the court had not committed the error in question, it would have been reasonable for the jury to find him not guilty.

Considerations During Review

In reviewing a trial court’s record for prejudicial error, the higher court will consider the other evidence presented at trial. For example, in a recent case before the Court of Appeals of Arizona, Second Division, the defendant argued that it was prejudicial for the court to allow testimony regarding the fact that he was carrying a “Santa Muerte card” while stopped for suspected drug trafficking. Many drug dealers are known to carry this card, and the defendant argued that the testimony about the card made the jury believe that he was, indeed, trafficking drugs just because he was holding the card.

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Have you been stopped by a police officer and charged with a DUI? Are you looking to contest the test results that the State wants to use against you? In Arizona, there are several options for challenging DUI test results; depending on your set of circumstances, each strategy has a different likelihood of success. To learn more or to see which method(s) would work for you, contact a Phoenix DUI attorney as soon as possible to discuss next steps in your case.

What is the Difference Between Each Test?

A breathalyzer is a device that officers use to track your blood alcohol content (BAC) based on each breath you take. A blood test, similarly, can detect a person’s BAC. The blood test can find alcohol in a person’s blood for up to 12 hours after drinking. A field sobriety test occurs when a police officer asks an individual to complete physical and mental tasks to determine if the person is intoxicated (i.e., standing on one leg, walking and turning).

Method 1: Challenge the Testing Procedure

The first method you might be able to use to challenge the results of a breath, blood, or field sobriety test is challenging the actual testing procedure. Officers do not always follow the correct testing procedures when stopping individuals for a breath, blood, or field sobriety test. It might be the case, for example, that the officer’s testing kit had expired, that your blood sample was not labeled correctly, or that the officer failed to use the precise proportion of chemicals when compiling the test.

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Recently, a defendant in Arizona was found guilty of six counts of first-degree murder. He appealed his convictions, arguing in part that one of the jurors in his trial had external knowledge of a previous crime that he had committed. According to the defendant on appeal, this knowledge prejudiced the juror against him, and the trial court should have granted his request for a mistrial. The higher court reviewed the trial record and ultimately disagreed, finding that the juror credibly stated she did not remember that the defendant had been accused of another crime several years prior.

Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 24.1

Under Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure Rule 24.1, a court may order a new trial either on the defendant’s motion or with the defendant’s consent. The defendant in this case moved for a new trial under this rule, arguing that one juror intentionally hid the fact that she knew the defendant was convicted of a previous murder. The trial court denied the defendant’s request, concluding that 1) the defendant did not show that the juror failed to disclose any knowledge and 2) regardless, the defendant failed to show any prejudice that resulted from the possible knowledge.

The defendant appealed. In the higher court’s opinion addressing the appeal, it noted that the juror testified that she knew about the previous murder, but she also indicated that she did not remember that the defendant in the case before her had been convicted of that murder. The court found this testimony to be credible; that is, it found it reasonable that the trial court relied on the juror’s testimony when deciding not to grant the defendant a mistrial.

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Sex crimes can be tough crimes to fight, but having an understanding of the different offenses can be helpful when you are up against the state of Arizona. Today, we review some basics of “luring,” which is a lesser known but severe criminal offense.

Definition of Luring

In Arizona, “luring a minor for sexual exploitation” means that a suspect offers sexual conduct when he or she knows or has reason to know that the other person is a minor. Luring is a class 3 felony, and there are harsher punishments if the minor is under fifteen years old.

Interestingly, a defendant in a luring case cannot offer the defense that the other person was not, in fact, a minor. For example, oftentimes, investigators suspect an individual of luring and pretend to be a minor on an internet platform. The investigators themselves are over 18 years of age, but the person committing the luring believes the investigators are different people, i.e. that they are minors themselves. Even though the investigators are not actually minors, this does not matter for the criminal offense: all that matters is that the suspect has reason to know that the second individual was a minor.

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In the U.S. generally and in Arizona specifically, every defendant has the right to be free from prosecution for the same offense multiple times. Sometimes, it is easy for a court to determine when a case violates this right. Other times, it is not so straightforward. In a recent case before the Arizona Supreme Court, it was unclear whether the defendant’s three separate convictions should have been prosecuted one conviction instead. The court ultimately used the nature of the offense to determine that the criminal activity should have been taken as one offense instead of three separate offenses. This was a victory for the defendant, whose sentence will be reduced as a result.

Facts of the Case

In the case before the Arizona Supreme Court, investigators began a conversation with the defendant after he posted ads on a website designed to facilitate sexual encounters. The investigators posed as a thirteen-year-old girl, and the defendant promptly began sending explicit messages to the “girl.” The two individuals arranged a meet up. During the three days between when the pair arranged the meet up and the date of the meet up, the defendant and the “girl” exchanged approximately 1,000 text messages, many of them very explicit in nature.

When the defendant arrived at the agreed-upon place, police officers arrested him. The State charged him with three counts of luring a minor under the age of fifteen for sexual exploitation. A jury found the defendant guilty, and the trial court sentenced him to thirty-one years in prison. This sentence was based on three distinct violations of Arizona law, given that the defendant sent explicit and luring messages on three separate days leading up to the supposed meet-up.

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Under Arizona law, a court is prohibited from reopening questions decided in the same case by the same court. Similarly, once a court issues a final judgment in a case, the same parties cannot re-litigate the issue in future proceedings. Essentially, this means that if a court finds you not guilty of a specific crime, the State cannot try you for the same offense down the road. The court’s ruling is final, and this law prohibits defendants from getting prosecuted multiple times for the same offense.

In a recent case, however, the court decided that the prosecution was entitled to reuse evidence from a 2012 case in its 2018 case. The case was centered on a defendant’s personal laptop, which contained photos of nude children. In 2012, when the defendant was first charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, he filed a motion to suppress the incriminating evidence, which the trial court granted. Because there was no incriminating evidence against the defendant, then, the court dismissed the charges.

Six years later, the State re-charged the defendant with the same crime, sexual exploitation of a minor. The defendant again filed a motion to suppress, but this time, the court denied the motion. The case went to trial, and a jury found the defendant guilty as charged. On appeal, the defendant took issue with the fact that the court allowed the prosecution to re-charge him using the same evidence, six years later.

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Under Arizona law, courts are required to explain certain sentencing decisions on the record and in the presence of parties. This explanation helps defendants understand the nature of their sentences, and it holds the court accountable for making fair decisions. A recent case before the Supreme Court of Arizona clarified what happens when courts fail to explain their sentencing decision on the record, creating a framework for cases moving forward.

The Sentencing Court’s Obligations Under Arizona Law

When a court decides the length and nature of a defendant’s sentence, that court has an obligation to explain its determination. Arizona law specifically says that the trial court must (1) state the factors it considered, and (2) articulate how those factors led to the sentencing decision. A judge will typically conduct this explanation orally, dictating the reasons in open court. If and when the defendant appeals the trial court’s decision, the appellate court then has a clear record of the decision and reasoning.

Consequences for the Sentencing Court’s Failure to Explain

In its May 2024 opinion, the Supreme Court of Arizona decided what must happen when a trial court fails to explain its sentencing decision. Once a party establishes that the trial court failed to meet its burden, the appellate court should put its subsequent decision on hold. The appellate court should then send the case back down to the trial court so that the judge can correct the error and explain the decision. Only after this explanation happens may the defendant’s appeal proceed.

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