Legal Question in Criminal Law in Arizona

Re: Pleading guilty: Conviction or not?

To answer your first question, yes, if you plead guilty, that will be a conviction just the same as if you were found guilty by a jury or a judge, it makes no difference. Now, to answer your second question about how to get your guns back: Pursuant to the Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, effective 30 September 1996, it is a felony for those convicted of certain misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence to own or possess firearms or ammunition. That means that if you have a conviction for a qualifying offense, it is a felony under federal law to possess a firearm. The only way around it is to get an expungement (after conviction get it taken out of the public records). Now, under the Lautenberg Amendment, the underlying offense must include an element requiring proof of the use or attempted use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon against the victim. So, I don't know the facts, but if the DV charge is just a disturbance of the peace (arguing) and there was no physical contact or threatened physical contact, then it shouldn't qualify. Now, under Arizona law, the judge can place an order of protection, and as part of the order take your firearms and not allow you to possess them for the duration of the order. Additionally, if you are placed on probation for the offense, a condition may be that you are not allowed to possess the firearms.

As for the charge itself, my advice is always to not plead guilty unless you have to. If you want to look at retaining a private attorney to review the evidence and fight it, or if the evidence is heavily against you, work with the prosecutor to get a plea agreement, e-mail me [email protected]. My fees are very reasonable, and as a former Marine JAG senior defense counsel, I handled a lot of these cases (you can't have a Marine you can't possess a weapon!). You can also check out my website www.win-law.com, where I have a section on domestic violence.