4 Years Prison for Failing to Appear at Arraignment
Arizona can be a very harsh state for Criminal & DUI cases. A defendant in Navajo County recently found out how harsh in a recent Court of Appeals decision.
In March 2023, the defendant was involved in a car crash in which his four-year-old son suffered a serious physical injury. The State charged the defendant with multiple felony offenses arising out of the collision.
Just over a week later, an officer with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office served the defendant with a summons to appear in the criminal matter, handing the paperwork to him face-to-face. The summons noted the criminal case number, listed the charges and stated, “YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before [the Navajo County Superior] Court at Holbrook, Arizona in Division 3 at 9:00 AM on MONDAY APRIL 10, 2023.” The summons warned Tafoya that a warrant would be issued for his arrest should he fail to appear. Tafoya did not appear for his arraignment on April 10, 2023, and the court issued a warrant for his arrest.
That same day the County Attorney’s office filed a felony failure to appear charge (F.T.A.), which is a class 5 felony. One week later, a Holbrook police officer arrested the defendant. During the arrest, the officer asked Tafoya, “you know you had court, right?” and Tafoya responded that he “put in a motion to get it dismissed.” But no such motion was filed.
The County Attorney’s office filed an Allegation of Prior Convictions with the court. The effect of filing the allegation was to eliminate probation as a possible sentence and to increase the possible sentence ranges. The County Attorney was not required to file the allegation, and easily could not have filed the allegation.
The F.T.A. charge went to a jury trial at which the defendant testified. He explained that he did not read the summons or understand that it related to criminal charges against him, assuming instead that it had to do with his then-pending case with the Department of Child Safety (“DCS”). The defendant testified he had no prior felony failures to appear however he did have one misdemeanor failure to appear in 2020.
The jury returned a guilty verdict. The court then sentenced him to a minimum term of four years imprisonment, with credit for 108 days of incarceration. The defendant must have had at least two allegeable prior felony convictions because a 4-year sentence for a class 5 felony could only be possible if the defendant had 2 allegeable prior convictions.
It is important to note defendant was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison for the act of not appearing at exactly one court date. Moreover, that court date was for the arraignment, at which the defendant is simply advised of the charges and conditions of release are set. The court date was not for a jury trial, when witnesses and jurors would have had to be present and therefore would have been inconvenienced when the defendant failed to appear.
Additionally, judging from the facts it would have been easy to simply find and arrest the defendant on the original charges and hold him in custody until the trial. The Sheriff’s Department personally served the defendant and so had an idea where he could be found. The Holbrook police arrested the defendant one week after the failure to appear.
Even if guilty the defendant did not have to be sentenced to 4 years in prison. As stated above 4 years is only possible if the defendant has at least 2 prior felony convictions and the County Attorney files an allegation of prior convictions. Had the State not filed allegations of prior convictions the defendant would have been eligible for probation with no jail.
It is also important to note that this 4-year prison sentence for failure to appear at one court date will cost the people of Arizona over $150,000 to pay for the costs of the defendant’s incarceration.
Lastly, from public court records the defendant appears to have been found not guilty of the most serious charges, Aggravated Assault.
Gordon Thompson
For more information about Arizona DUI and criminal law issues please contact Gordon Thompson who has used his experience to write a blog on topics of interest. You can also chat with Gordon about your specific questions.
Website: https://www.GordonThompsonAttorney.net Blog: https://www.GordonThompsonAttorney.net/blog/
