Aggravated DUI is measured in months of prison rather than days of jail, and it leaves the city courthouse entirely. Five circumstances trigger it, and three of them have nothing to do with how much anybody drank.
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Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (480) 741-9606A.R.S. 28-1383(A) lists them. Committing a DUI while a driver license or privilege is suspended, canceled, revoked or refused, or restricted because of an earlier alcohol case. A third or subsequent violation within eighty-four months, or a violation by someone with prior convictions under the DUI sections. A violation with a person under fifteen years of age in the vehicle. A violation while the court or the department requires a certified ignition interlock device. And a violation committed while driving the wrong way on a highway, defined as movement opposing the legal flow of traffic, which excludes a median crossing and a crash that merely ends up facing backward. Subsection (O) makes the first, second, fourth and fifth a class 4 felony and the child-passenger paragraph a class 6 felony.
Subsection (D) removes eligibility for probation, pardon, commutation, suspension of sentence or release on any other basis until four months have been served in prison, for a suspended-privilege count, a wrong-way count, or a repeat count with two qualifying priors inside eighty-four months. Subsection (E) raises that to eight months where three or more priors are found. A child-passenger count carries at least the minimum incarceration the underlying 28-1381 or 28-1382 conviction would require. If someone on probation fails to comply, the court can order incarceration as a probation term, capped at four months at a time and a year total in the first group and eight months and two years in the second. In counties running an aggravated DUI jail program, that mandatory time may be served in county jail instead, without release or work privileges the person would not otherwise have.
Section 28-1387(A) requires the court to allow an allegation of a prior conviction or another pending DUI charge filed twenty or more days before trial, and permits a later filing if the state gives the defense a copy of the information it obtained. Any conviction may enhance another regardless of the order in which the offenses happened inside the eighty-four month window. A juvenile delinquency adjudication counts as a conviction for this purpose. So the first document to pull is a certified disposition for every prior case, because commission dates, not sentencing dates, run the count.
The city prosecutor's office handles misdemeanors arising here and states that felonies occurring in Tempe are prosecuted by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. The county process starts with an initial appearance, where charges are read, counsel is appointed if needed, release conditions or a bond are set, and the next date is given. From there the case either goes to a preliminary hearing before a court commissioner, where the state presents evidence of probable cause, or to a grand jury. An indictment removes the preliminary hearing and sends the matter straight to arraignment in Superior Court, where a not guilty plea is entered. An initial pretrial conference follows, and sentencing after a plea is typically set about a month out.
On receiving the conviction report the department revokes the driving privilege and may not issue a new license within one year of the conviction date. Where intoxicating liquor was involved, a certified ignition interlock device is required, and section 28-3319 sets twenty-four months for the class 4 felony paragraphs and for a child-passenger count resting on the extreme statute. That period begins only once screening, education or treatment is finished and the person is otherwise eligible to reinstate. A conviction also triggers an approved traffic survival school course and screening at an approved facility.
Board of Regents policy states that students may be accountable both to criminal authorities and to the university for the same conduct, and that university action may proceed before, during or after the court case. Off-campus conduct may be subject to educational intervention or discipline, and the prohibited conduct list reaches violations of laws governing alcohol as well as off-campus conduct a reasonable person would believe presents a risk to the safety of the community. Available sanctions run from a warning and conduct probation to an administrative hold that blocks registration, transcripts or graduation, to suspension and expulsion, which bar attendance at any Regents university. Anyone here on a visa needs immigration advice from counsel who practices it, because that exposure is not resolved in the criminal courtroom.
Sealing under A.R.S. 13-911 becomes available five years after a class 4, 5 or 6 felony sentence is completed and all fines, fees and restitution are paid. Even then, sealed case records may be used to enhance a later sentence under the DUI statutes and must be disclosed when applying for work involving the commercial or private operation of a motor vehicle. Setting a judgment aside under 13-905 dismisses the charge and lifts penalties, but expressly leaves the transportation department's licensing consequences in place.
State rules forbid a contingent fee for representing a defendant in a criminal case, so no part of this work can be priced against the outcome, and the basis or rate has to be communicated in writing. Felony exposure moves a fee through hours rather than percentages: certified priors, grand jury or preliminary hearing coverage, laboratory and interlock records, mitigation before a mandatory prison term, and trial preparation if it goes that far.
Felony DUI Lawyer in Tempe. Call (480) 741-9606 and a Tempe lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (480) 741-9606Arizona’s basic DUI statute reaches driving while impaired “to the slightest degree” and a 0.08-or-higher alcohol concentration within two hours of driving. A separate statute sets the extreme-DUI range at 0.15 to less than 0.20 and the higher, commonly called super-extreme, range at 0.20 or more. The stated first-conviction jail minimums are ten consecutive days for the basic statute, thirty days for 0.15–0.199, and forty-five days for 0.20 or above, subject to statutory sentencing provisions.
Why it matters: A Tempe reader needs to know that a number below 0.08 does not itself resolve an impairment allegation, and that 0.15 and 0.20 are legal threshold lines rather than casual labels. The cited subsection and reported result shape the evidence review and sentencing exposure.
The Tempe City Prosecutor’s Criminal Division prosecutes misdemeanors occurring in Tempe, including traffic and criminal complaints involving DUI. The same office states that felony cases occurring in Tempe are prosecuted by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Why it matters: A standard misdemeanor DUI and an aggravated-DUI felony allegation can begin on different local prosecution paths. The charge and venue listed on the paperwork determine where a lawyer needs to look for the case and which court process applies.
Source: tempe.gov
Arizona’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety reports DUI figures separately for ASU Police: 19 in 2023 and 55 in 2024. The agency’s 2025 figure is listed as preliminary statistical data.
Why it matters: Tempe’s university footprint can place an arrest in a distinct law-enforcement record system. The arresting agency printed on the citation helps identify where reports, video, dispatch material, and other case records may begin.
Source: gohs.az.gov