There are two different types of offenses in Arizona, felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are the more serious. Felony offenses can range anywhere from murder to possession of drugs. Felonies are more serious than misdemeanors in many different ways, including that a felony conviction, unlike a misdemeanor, could require the imposition of a prison term, could cause someone to be prohibited from possessing a firearm, and likewise cause them to lose their civil rights. Because the stakes are so much higher when a felony is charged, the steps that are involved before charges can be brought are more complex and the hurdles are a little bit higher.
When a person is arrested for a felony is they’re brought in front of a judge, they have an initial appearance. During the initial appearance, the judge will determine release conditions, which may range from someone being released simply on their promise to come back to court, all the way to being held without bond for the entire duration of their case. Within 10 days of the initial appearance, the person has to have what’s called a preliminary hearing. At the preliminary hearing, a judge hears some evidence related to the investigation that results in the person’s arrest and simply decides whether there’s probable cause for the charge to move forward through the court system.
There are alternative means for the prosecutor to finalize this probable cause finding, and that’s typically done by presenting the case to a grand jury, where probable cause can be determined by a group of grand jurors instead of a judge. Neither of these processes of determining probable cause is not something that someone is afforded to when they’re facing a misdemeanor charge. Once the probable cause determination is made in a felony case the case will be set for a pre-trial conference and ultimately set for trial. At any time before or evening during trial, the case can be resolved either through a dismissal or through a negotiated settlement with the prosecutor. If the case does go to trial and it results in a conviction, then the sentence is typically left to the judge; however, Arizona’s mandatory sentencing laws may require a prison term depending on the circumstances of each particular case.
