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Hi my name is Cindy Castillo of Castillo Law. Today I would like to talk to you about how your case gets to a misdemeanor court.

The obvious one is that you have been contacted by a law enforcement officer and he issued you a citation and it says right on the citation “you need to present yourself to court on a certain day for an arraignment”.

The second situation is a little bit different. In some circumstances an officer might tell you “I’m going to be presenting this information to the prosecuting agency, and if the prosecuting agency determines whether or not there is sufficient evidence for there to be a charge then the prosecuting agency will contact you”. They will either send you a summons or a complaint. Now it’s very important that you understand that the prosecuting agency, in a misdemeanor context, has one year in which to prosecute you. Now if this is a DUI it does sometimes take a little bit of time for the case to be presented to the prosecutor, because they are typically waiting for blood results or urine results.

So again remember that just because the officer has not cited you on the night that you were contacted or the day you are contacted this does not mean that you will not be receiving charges for the offense. It does sometimes take a while.

It’s very important that if you ever have contact or get contacted by a law-enforcement officer that you contact an attorney right away. Feel free to contact my office I do offer free consultations.
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If you have questions about your criminal case in Arizona call Castillo Law for a Free Consultation 24/7 at (480) 206-5204. Se Habla Español.