Legal Question in Criminal Law in Arizona
I was charged with unlawful use of a sales receipt, a class 6, felony. Somehow they sent it to the Justice Court, where at my arraignment the jp advised me that he needed to send it back to the prosecutor to see if he wanted to push it over to the Superior Court or dismiss it, because he didn't handle felony charges in his court. My next court date the judge advised me that he granted an Order to have the charges "amended." The charge wasn't amended, it was designated. The Rule on it states that if a prosecutor files an amended complaint, designating the charge as a misdemeanor than it can be heard in the Justice Court. My question is, the prosecutor handed me a plea agreement, which says that the plea serves as the amended charge unless rejected. My question is, since there was never a formal amended complaint filed and the plea agreement was rejected, would filing a Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction be appropriate to submit?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Should you file the motion claiming the court has no jurisdiction for felony charges you risk the state will file it as a felony and proceed on the felony charge. The plea agreement amending the charge to a misdemeanor charge in the justice court, should you agree, will result in the court proceeding with the arraignment on the new charge and accepting the plea agreement. If you are unrepresented the state is not requesting any jail, the court will not impose any jail time, and the terms of the plea agreement set out what the court will impose as your sentence.
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