Maricopa County, Arizona, DUI Defense
Maricopa County is the most highly populated county in Arizona, and as such, the most DUI cases are processed in the courts here.
There are two basic levels of county courts, the Superior Court and the Justice Courts.
Maricopa County Superior Court has jurisdiction over all state felonies alleged to have been committed within the county limits. This includes aggravated DUIs, endangerment, aggravated assaults and vehicular homicides. The Superior Court also has concurrent jurisdiction over midemeanors.
The Justice Court system handles only misdemenaors. Typically, if you are arrested for a first or second offense DUI by either the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office or DPS (Department of Public Safety), your case will be assigned to a justice of the peace in one of the many Maricopa County Justice Court locations. Reservation cases also typically get assigned to the Justice Courts.
If you are arrested for a misdemeanor DUI in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa or any other city or town within Maricopa County, by the city police from that jurisdiction, your case will probably be heard in a city or town court, which also has misdemeanor jurisdiction. There are certain exceptions. For example, Sheriff Joe provides police services for the town of Fountain Hills. If you are arrested in Fountain Hills, it will likely be by a Sheriff's Deputy, but your case will be heard in Fountain Hills Municipal Court.
All Maricopa County cases (in Justice and Superior Court) are prosecuted by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, currently under County Attorney Andrew Thomas. If there is a conflict of interest, then a municipal prosecutor, or even somebody from the Attorney General's office may step in.