Case in AZ 2004

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otpowell

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Hello, I have a case in Arizona (Maricopa County - Happened at an Apartment Complex), that occurred in 2004. As soon as I was charged, I moved out of the state. Here's what happened. In 2004, a friend and I were partying, and some arguing broke out between him and a girl, neighbors called the cops, cops came in and searched, and found a half ounce of mushrooms and charged me with it. The cops communicated that due to the arguing, the were allowed to automatically search the premises without a warrant. Now, 10 years later, I have not had any similar charges since then, and my friend hired a lawyer, and resolved his side of the case with a dismissal on grounds of discrepancies in the police report (evidently the police lied in some way, and the police reports that each officer submitted did not align with the same story), and because they did not have a search warrant. My question is, should I hire the same lawyer and pay five grand to get the case dismissed if possible? I hope my case has the same final result as my friends (he was only charged with marijuana). This case is a hindrance in my life due to background checks. I am a good, drug free man who will be an engineer soon, and will need to pass a background check. I have had not had any other charges like this since 2004. I did have drug paraphernalia charge back around year 2000, but other than that, my background is clean. Please advise if there's a cheaper way to handle this, or if there's a better way to handle the case. Here's the details that I pulled off of the Maricopa County website. Apparently, they dismissed the case, and then reissued a warrant. It looks like there are two case numbers, and when I look under one of them, it says that the case has been terminated. What does all this mean? How do I find out what I have to do to get this off of my background? I'm hoping that since my friends lawyer got the case dismissed, that it's also dismissed on my side, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that because we are separate people charged with separate things.

Case Information
Case Number: Judge: Conti, Frank
File Date: 1/5/2004 Location: Dreamy Draw Justice Court
Case Type: Justice Civil Case Status: 60 - Terminated


Filing Date Description Docket Date Filing Party
12/13/2011 WAR - Warrant For Arrest 12/15/2011
NOTE: QUASHED 12/02/11
12/5/2011 042 - ME: Case Dismissed - Full 12/5/2011
12/2/2011 ODI - Order Of Dismissal 12/7/2011
NOTE: WITHOUT PREJUDICE AND QUASHING ANY OUTSTANDING WARRRANT OR SUMMONS
11/29/2011 MTD - Motion To Dismiss 12/1/2011
NOTE: WITHOUT PREJUDICE/ AND QUASH WARRANT/SUMMONS
1/19/2006 ROR - Release Order 3/2/2006
NOTE: secured appearance bond, signed 1/19/06
5/16/2005 002 - ME: Hearing Vacated 5/16/2005
5/2/2005 SUM - Summons 5/3/2005
5/2/2005 RTM - Returned Mail or Returned/ReMailed Mail 5/3/2005
4/7/2005 002 - ME: Hearing Vacated 4/7/2005
3/15/2005 SUM - Summons 3/15/2005
3/15/2005 RTM - Returned Mail or Returned/ReMailed Mail 3/15/2005
2/28/2005 DCO - Direct Complaint 3/1/2005
Case Calendar
Date Time Event
3/31/2005 8:30 Initial Appearance/Prelim Hrg
5/9/2005 8:30 Initial Appearance/Prelim Hrg
 
You can't hurt anything by speaking with three or four local attorneys.
The initial consultations are normally free of costs or further obligation.
You can ask 10 or 12 questions during your 20-30 minute meeting.
After you've done research with those in the know in your state and/or county, you can think about what you can do.
Before you do anything, educate yourself.
I've always learned that unless I'm directly involved, what others say should only be accepted as anecdotal information.
Trust, but verify, deliberate with caution and not haste; then proceed.
 
army judge said:
You can't hurt anything by speaking with three or four local attorneys.
The initial consultations are normally free of costs or further obligation.
You can ask 10 or 12 questions during your 20-30 minute meeting.
After you've done research with those in the know in your state and/or county, you can think about what you can do.
Before you do anything, educate yourself.
I've always learned that unless I'm directly involved, what others say should only be accepted as anecdotal information.
Trust, but verify, deliberate with caution and not haste; then proceed.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your response. I live in Florida now, and I caught the case in AZ. Do you still advise that I meet with local attorneys? I didn't think they could advise properly on AZ laws. Would writing a letter to a judge help? How do I find out which judge it is?
 
Last edited:
Writing letters to the judge will not help.

You will need an attorney in AZ.
 
otpowell said:
Thank you for your response. I live in Florida now, and I caught the case in AZ. Do you still advise that I meet with local attorneys? I didn't think they could advise properly on AZ laws. Would writing a letter to a judge help? How do I find out which judge it is?
Click to expand...

You might even, at some point, be required to return to AZ to properly dispose of this matter.
So,m you live in FL, that's no issue.
many AZ attorneys will communicate with you via web chat services, or the common, old telephone.
Once you've had those initial discussions, you can then decide your next steps.

You can do nothing, because I'm sure AZ won't extradite you from FL.
Many times, if you are ever arrested (or your name is run through NCIC), you could be arrested and held until its known that AZ won't extradite.

If, however, you want to enhance your career prospects, cleaning this mess up is in your best interests.

In all likelihood, it'll never impact you, but there's that Christmas eve in two or twenty years in the future, you just never know.
I'd endeavor to fix it.
That starts with some calls to AZ attorneys.
 
army judge said:
You might even, at some point, be required to return to AZ to properly dispose of this matter.
So,m you live in FL, that's no issue.
many AZ attorneys will communicate with you via web chat services, or the common, old telephone.
Once you've had those initial discussions, you can then decide your next steps.

You can do nothing, because I'm sure AZ won't extradite you from FL.
Many times, if you are ever arrested (or your name is run through NCIC), you could be arrested and held until its known that AZ won't extradite.

If, however, you want to enhance your career prospects, cleaning this mess up is in your best interests.

In all likelihood, it'll never impact you, but there's that Christmas eve in two or twenty years in the future, you just never know.
I'd endeavor to fix it.
That starts with some calls to AZ attorneys.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I already have the # for my friends lawyer who had the case dismissed. I think it benefits that he's already familiar and won. I'm sick of feeling like a criminal, I'll get it fixed. Thanks so much for you responses everyone.
 
Even if you successfully beat the charge, you cannot beat the fleeing charge. I doubt anyone will want you as an engineer.
 
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