Law enforcement agencies in Arizona take holiday weekends seriously due to the increase of people driving while intoxicated. Cates & Garvey Law Group wants everyone to stay safe this Labor Day weekend. Call an Uber, Lyft, or a taxi if you are deciding to have fun with family and friends. If you or anyone you know is in need of a free consultation for a pending DUI matter please call us at your convenience.

Click the link to stay up-to-date with the newest checkpoints, updated in real time: http://bit.ly/checkpointaz

Arizona DUI Checkpoints Recent Alerts

If you’ve been charged with kidnapping, you’re facing a large legal battle, and you need to retain a top flight kidnapping attorney as soon as possible. Your future freedom for many years to come will rest heavily on how well they can defend you.

The good news is that despite being charged with kidnapping, there are many possible defense strategies that can be employed. Much of how a defense is crafted will depend on the evidence, facts and witness statements as part of the case.

One of the most common defenses centers around the fact that the victim may have consented to go with the defendant. Absent other supporting facts, this claim may have enough weight in the courtroom to raise enough reasonable doubt in the eyes of the jury.

Another possible defense is that a defendant may claim ignorance if they do not believe they are committing an act of kidnapping. For example, in child custody cases, if one parent removes a child from the other parent’s care and they believed they were doing so within the boundaries of the law, this may be enough to get charges dropped or may lead to an acquittal in a trial. A careful presentation of the facts may help draw jurors to the conclusion that a person was justified instead of the fact that they committed a kidnapping.

Sometimes, a defendant may be able to claim that they were coerced or forced under duress to commit a kidnapping. If a person is threatened with violence if they don’t commit a kidnapping, they may be able to show that imminent danger pushed them to commit a kidnapping.

While it is a lot less prevalent and much more of a long shot, a defense attorney may be able to make the claim of insanity. Without rational thought being present, kidnapping charges may be reduced to a lesser charge, although the defendant may wind up paying a price through mental health confinement as a result.

Cates & Garvey Law Group proudly serves clients in Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale, Mesa and surrounding Arizona communities.

When you are charged with a crime, one of the keys to finding the right lawyer is understanding how your case will be charged, so that you can find the right attorney based on their appropriate experience.

Basically, you will either be charged with a state level crime or a federal level crime, meaning that you’ll want an attorney who either specializes as state criminal attorney or as a federal criminal attorney.

But how do you know which level of crime you’ll be charged with, and what are the implications of each?

Typically, if a crime is committed in only a single state, it will be considered a state crime, unless federal law specifically supercedes it. This means, murder, robbery, assaults, traffic violations and the like will be considered state level crimes. Any crime that takes place in more than one state or takes place on federal property will generally be considered a federal level crime. This may include crimes such as drug trafficking, IRS violations, mail fraud, kidnapping, immigration offenses or counterfeiting, among many others.

In some cases, a crime may either be charged as a state or a federal crime. In those instances the US Constitution has a “Supremacy Clause” which means that a federal law will take precedence over state law.

One of the most important distinctions between state and federal crimes involves sentencing after a conviction. While state courts are often guided by state legislation, judges do often times have discretion on minimum and maximum penalties. Federal courts rely on Federal Sentencing Guidelines which are applied in calculating penalties for convicted felons. Federal courts also use a point system when considering enhancements to sentences, based on various factors such as a person’s background, criminal history, and facts of the case.

Cates & Garvey Law Group proudly serves clients in Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale, Mesa and surrounding Arizona communities.

Despite a trend toward relaxing penalties related to certain drugs throughout much of the United States, Arizona is still known as one of the states with some of the toughest drug laws on the books.  Part of this is a general conservative attitude toward drugs in the state, and part of it comes from being a border state that is a prime target for drugs moving across the border with too much regularity.

All of these forces combine to create a severe punishment for anyone who is caught violating Arizona’s drug laws.  That means it is imperative to retain the services of an experienced drug crime attorney for even the smallest and most simple of drug related charges.

In Arizona, drugs are divided into six categories, and the type of punishment a person may receive will depend partly on which category of drug is involved.  Those categories are:

• Marijuana
• Prescription drugs
• Narcotics
• Peyote
• Substances that release toxic vapors
• Dangerous drugs such as metheamphetamines

In addition, you can also be charged with a drug crime if you possess the compounds used to make any of the aforementioned drugs as well.

The main dividing line in drug charges has to do with marijuana versus all other types of dangerous drugs.  Since the legalization of medical marijuana in Arizona, possession laws have become a bit fuzzy, but there are still harsh penalties for possessing larger quantities of the drug, as well as transporting, distributing and manufacturing it as well.

For many other drugs that are classified as dangerous drugs, you can be charged with a Class 4 felony, and depending on the quantity and circumstances, you can be looking at almost four years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000 upon conviction.

There is some leeway in these statutes and sometimes, through a plea bargain, charges and penalties can be negotiated down to lesser charges, but only with the help of a skilled drug crimes attorney.

Cates & Garvey Law Group proudly serves clients in Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, Scottsdale, Mesa and surrounding Arizona communities