Under A.R.S. § 28-701.02, criminal speed occurs when you: 1. exceed 35 mph approaching a school crossing; or 2. exceed the posted speed limit by 20 mph in a business or residential district; or 3. exceed 85 mph elsewhere.
You can be charged with the crime of criminal speeding in Arizona under A.R.S. § 28-701.02, if you:
In Arizona, Criminal speeding is a class 3 misdemeanor under the state’s law. Possible punishments include:
Though these are the possible punishments for criminal speeding, jail time is normally quite rare. In actuality, there are only a few judges in the state that will give jail for a first criminal speed ticket in Arizona. Often times, if you are exceeding the speed limit to the point where judges are imposing jail, you have also been charged with other traffic crimes such as reckless driving or drag racing.
The rules and laws surrounding criminal speeding are fairly straightforward. Truthfully, criminal speeding tickets can be fairly difficult to defend as so much of the time it comes down to your word against the officer’s word. That said, there are effective ways to defend and negotiate criminal speeding charges.
Whether the officer used radar detention, a lidar scanner or a pace system, the device or method requires that the officer follow strict procedures to ensure accuracy in the measurement device.
Even when speed devices and procedures are utilized correctly by law enforcement, there is still a margin of error in the result generated. Because A.R.S. § 28-701.02 is so speed specific, attacks on whether you exceeded certain thresholds can lead to not guilty findings.
Because these cases so often end up as your word against the word of the officer, catching the officer in factual inaccuracies is essential in eroding the confidence in the officer’s testimony.
Two of the three types of criminal speeding require that the state prove you were approaching a school crossing or in a business or residential district. Undermining the factual accuracy of those findings makes the portion of the statute you were charged under invalid and can lead to dismissal.
Example: If you were 20 mph over on a rural road you are not guilty if the officer charged you under subsection A2 as you are not in a business or residential district.
While not a technical defense, under A.R.S. § 28-3392(2)(A), a judge can allow you to attend Defensive Driving School (DDS) to have the charge dismissed entirely. A judge’s willingness to allow a person to attend DDS is normally very fact specific and some judges are more apt to allow people to participate than other judges.
At Feldman & Royle, we have represented hundreds of people charged with criminal speeding in Arizona. Truthfully, there are many circumstances where hiring a criminal speeding attorney to represent you on a criminal speeding ticket probably doesn’t make sense. In cases like trials for criminal traffic offenses or petitions to have the DDS dismiss a criminal speeding ticket, an experienced Phoenix criminal defense lawyer can make the difference between maintaining a clean record and facing a criminal conviction. For a free consultation and to discuss whether hiring a criminal speeding lawyer in Arizona is right for your case, call us on 602-899-8000.
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