News of Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown being arrested for criminal speeding driving in Phoenix last week makes one wonder if such excessive speeds are limited to professional athletes, or if it’s going on all the time and we only hear about when some sort of ‘celebrity’ is involved. See e.g. Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Yasmany Tomas (105 in a 65); or state Rep Paul Mosley (R-Lake Havasu City. 97 in a 55, repeat offender. Brags on video of going ‘almost’ 120). Continue reading “Cardinals WR ‘Hollywood’ Brown arrested for driving 126 mph on the 101, troopers say”
Category: carlaw
Former Waymo contractor arrested in Tempe crash
Will the driver be held accountable for the Waymo Jan 30 crash near Warner and Rural? Video of the incident show a driver who police say is Raymond Tang traveling along a 45mph posted road swerving, weaving, speeding up and slowing down, and finally successfully maneuvering himself in front of another vehicle and “brake-checking” into a minor crash.
Notice that to be guilty of assault, actually causing an injury is not required, merely “(Intentionally) placing another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury” is assault. Using a weapon makes it aggravated assault, a serious felony. The intentionally part can sometimes be hard to prove — though videos of such incidents make it obvious to any reasonable person that the acts were intentional. Continue reading “Former Waymo contractor arrested in Tempe crash”
Arrest Warrant issued for speeding lawmaker Mosely
Coshise County attorney did come through with a criminal speeding charge on August 3rd; which Mosely either ignored or was unaware of (hmm, unaware). He eventually surrendered, plead not guilty, and was immediately released, with a trial scheduled for October 18. Well, at least he won’t be special much longer, as… Continue reading “Arrest Warrant issued for speeding lawmaker Mosely”
Arizona Rep Mosley Brags on Video about speeding
Lake Havasu City Republican state representative Paul Mosley… Not much to say about this knucklehead doing 97 in a 55mph zone except that there is nothing to stop the County Attorney from charging him with at least criminal speeding (La Paz referred it to Cochise).
§28-701.02. Excessive speeds; classification
A. A person shall not… Exceed eighty-five miles per hour in other locations.
B. A person who violates subsection A of this section is guilty of a class 3 misdemeanor.
Continue reading “Arizona Rep Mosley Brags on Video about speeding”
Road Rage, late-night bar-hopping, and guns
Incident Feb 4, 2018 left an off-duty Tempe fire captain Kyle Brayer dead.
The defendant, Hezron Parks, has plead not guilty to a variety of charges: 3X aggravated assault, 7X endangerment, and leaving the scene, and some others. Murder charges, if any, have yet to be brought — “The defendant stated that he felt threatened and justified in grabbing his unholstered handgun” Continue reading “Road Rage, late-night bar-hopping, and guns”
Where do traffic laws apply?
[ For where and how traffic laws in Arizona apply to bicyclists, see this article ]
The rules of the road (ROR) apply to motorists when an a road; but what about when driving in a parking lot? A private street? etc?
What are usually referred to as the ROR, like stopping, right-of-way, signals, etc, are contained in Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 28, Chapters 3. (Chapter 4 is impaired driving and is treated specifically below). Here is the key statute, along with the key definition, emphasis added in italics: Continue reading “Where do traffic laws apply?”
A Quick Review of Important Auto Insurance Coverage For Cyclists
Short answer: cyclists who also own automobiles should strongly consider buying additional UM/UIM coverage; this will cover you if you become involved in a crash caused by a motorist and they can’t pay, or reach their policy limits. Continue reading “A Quick Review of Important Auto Insurance Coverage For Cyclists”
This happened one day in Tempe
Out for a Saturday morning group ride on Hardy Drive in Tempe July 2, 2016, cyclists had some sort of negative encounter with a motorist. Traffic would be light at 9AM on a Saturday morning in the dead of summer, except for the group of estimated 50 bicyclists (dispersed, not one group) and that motorist. The street here is very narrow, is traffic-calmed with ped islands and speed tables installed in a 2014/15 streetscape project, and has a speed limit of 30mph. Continue reading “This happened one day in Tempe”
AZ Legislators busy on photo-enforcement again
[update 2023. again]
[update 2022. again]
[ UPDATE 2018. (does this sound familiar?)
A new year, a new session. This year, like every year, some Arizona Republican legislators were busy a work on their top priority — to finally rid Arizona of photo red enforcement once and for all. News Story. HB2208 53rd2R. Opinion piece from EVTrib: Time again to discuss a traffic camera ban, and why it’s a dumb move ]
2017.
A new year, a new session. This year, like every year, some Arizona Republican legislators were busy a work on their top priority — to finally rid Arizona of photo red enforcement once and for all. News Story.
Last year, they banned it from the “State highway system” It had been in use in exactly two places, on ‘city’/’town’ streets, not freeways. Many years ago it was expelled from freeways. Continue reading “AZ Legislators busy on photo-enforcement again”
No more covering your license plate
After years of wrangling and haggling over the meaning of “A person shall maintain each license plate so it is clearly legible”. Any and all coverings, including wax according to one wag, are now banned. SB1073 has passed and was signed by the governor; the effective date is something like 90 days after the session closes; perhaps August(?). Here’s the new section: Continue reading “No more covering your license plate”
Arizona’s “Truth in Sentencing” Law
Sentencing Reference Material
Criminal Code Sentencing Provisions; currently 2017-2018
If that link goes dead, there’s a landing page at azcourts.gov for the sentencing material.
Sentencing is fairly intricate; With felony crimes the primary determinant being whether or not the crime is sentenced as “dangerous” vs. “non-dangerous”; this apparently is determined on a case-by-case basis; and non-dangerous crimes are all probation-eligible (meaning can be no prison time; even for serious offenses)
References; here are the general rules, there are many other sub-categories with special rules for offenses e.g. involving children, or drugs:
- §13-707 misdemeanor jail sentence
- §13-802 misdemeanor fines
- §13-702 felony prison / non-dangerous offenses (all probationable) / non-repetitive
- §13-704 felony prison / dangerous offenses (not probationable) / first offenders
- §13-801 & §13-803 felony fines
Also note that, unlike a civil judgement, criminal restitution is not dischargable through bankruptcy.
§13-708. Involves sentencing for crimes committed when out on release for earlier felony crimes, see e.g. case of Frank Kitko.
Class 1?
The felony rules above, like 702/4, as well as the reference guide only cover class 2 through 6. What about class 1?
(In Arizona’s homicide world, Neg Hom is a class 4, Manslaughter is class 2, and 1st AND 2nd Degree Murder is class 1.)
13-710 Sentence for second degree murder
1st degree murder is: 13-1105
Sentence of death or life imprisonment 13-751.
Apparently 1st and 2nd degree murder are the only Felony Class 1 crimes.
Vehicular Assault / Vehicular Homicide
References to homicide / assault:
- Homicide (1st, 2nd Murder, Manslaughter, Negligent Homicide)
- Assault and Aggravated Assault
Jury Instructions
As a reference document: The State Bar of Arizona publishes a lengthy document — Revised Arizona Jury Instruction (Criminal) currently in its 4th Ed 2018, direct link
And contains amongst the instructions useful references to relevant case law.
Arizona’s “Truth in Sentencing” Law
I feel like I’ve looked this up before…
Arizona passed a major overhaul to the state’s sentencing code (Senate Bill 1049, Chapter 255, 1993 laws) in the 1993 legislative session. Annoyingly, the online lookup azleg.gov doesn’t go back before 1997, so at the moment I don’t have access to the bill itself. (need to look it up thru library). Continue reading “Arizona’s “Truth in Sentencing” Law”
‘In the presence’ Requirement?
With the prevalence of dash cams, go pros, and smart phones, these sorts of videos have become more and more common, e.g. here’s another one from Oregon in 2015, Police credit cyclist’s video in careless driving citation: Continue reading “‘In the presence’ Requirement?”
Knowingly
The case of Trevor Clarke, an Ottawa Canada driver who was involved in a serious 2012 collision with a bicyclist while drunk, and then fled the scene raised quite a stir. According to news reports, the driver was convicted (by a judge, meaning this was for unstated reasons not a jury trial) in 2015 of “impaired driving causing bodily harm”, but was found not guilty of leaving the scene because the judge said. “I am left in a reasonable doubt about whether Mr. Clarke knew or was wilfully blind to having collided with a person, precisely because he was so drunk. He cannot, therefore, be convicted of this offence”. Continue reading “Knowingly”
Woman guilty of running over husband after ’12 election
Holly Nicole Solomon was finally sentenced for aggravated assault yesterday for running her (at the time) husband over with her car soon after learning he didn’t vote in the 2012 presidential election. … see the rest here …
Celebrity DUIs and other car criminals
There are tens of thousands of DUI arrests per year in AZ (39,746 in 2013 to be more precise). And that’s not counting the many of the over ten thousand hit-and-run drivers reported each year in AZ (11,402 in 2010 to be more precise), all of whom are criminals, thousands of them serious felons, few of whom are ever caught or charged. (hit-and-run from a collision with any injury is a felony, if the injury is serious or fatal the felony is likewise serious). Continue reading “Celebrity DUIs and other car criminals”