What Generally Happens After Someone Has Been Arrested For A DUI in Arizona?

Aftermath Of A DUI Arrest In Arizona

At that point the officers are supposed to request the tests by reading verbatim from a standard form that has the exact same language for everyone. If you refuse the tests then they have a number of other paragraphs explaining the possible consequences and giving you further opportunities to recant your refusal. If they go through all of those admonitions and the person still refuses to do any of the tests, then at that point the officer applies for a search warrant.

They tell the judge everything they observed starting with the driving behavior, such as failing to stay in the lane, making an improper turn, or not using the turn signal. They tell the judge everything they observed from the time of the stop up until the arrest, including the observations they made in the field sobriety testing. The judge will then issue the search warrant for whatever type of test the officer requested. Typically they’re just going to request that blood be drawn. At that point the officer serves the individual with the warrant to draw their blood and the person no longer has a choice whether to give blood or not. The officers can even use restraint to take the blood.

If the person consents to the test at the time of arrest, they are transported to the station. Most jurisdictions here in Arizona use the Intoxilyzer 8000 machines. They’ll go through what’s called a 15 minute deprivation period where the officer checks the person’s mouth to make sure there is nothing in it and they observe the person for 15 minutes to make sure that they don’t belch, burp or throw up anything that could affect the breath test. During that 15 minute deprivation period they turn on the Intoxilyzer machine and it runs itself through a series of calibrations and indicates that it’s functioning properly. At the end of the 15 minute deprivation period they bring the person in and do two consecutive breath tests.

Depending on the results, the person is then booked on a specific DUI charge. If their BAC comes back below 0.08 they will likely be charged with being impaired “to the slightest degree.” If it comes back between .08 and .15 they will be charged with a .08 DUI. If it comes back between .15 and .20 they will get those charges as well as an Extreme DUI. If it comes back above .20 they will be charged with a Super Extreme DUI as well as all those other charges.

Once they are booked and charged, the officer has the discretion to either issue them a citation or formally book them into custody. If they receive a citation they have to sign it and promise to appear for the court date and then they are released. If they’re booked into custody the state then has 24 hours to hold an initial appearance in front of a judge to decide release conditions.

In the vast majority of first offense DUI arrests, the officers will issue a citation and the person will be released. They don’t see a judge until the first court date on the citation. If the person has prior DUIs, then the officer could book them and the judge will have the discretion to impose a bond or release them on their own recognizance. If they’re being charged with a misdemeanor DUI, the judges do not have the authority to hold them without bond. They have to either release them on their own recognizance or issue a bond.

If they’re charged with an aggravated DUI they will be booked and they will have to see a judge. If the person doesn’t have any prior felony DUIs, the judges at that point will typically release them to what’s called pretrial services. This is like a Probation Department where they monitor the person while they are on release. They make them come in and do random tests and they’re under supervision while their case is pending.

If the person had another felony case pending and they get arrested and charged with a felony DUI then that person will be held without bond under the statutes. The court has no authority to give them a bond or release them. They will remain in custody until the case is resolved.

Arizona DUI Lawyer