Scottsdale Violent Crimes Lawyer | Assault to Homicide

The Range of Scottsdale Violent Charges

Tamou Law Group PLLC defends people accused of violent crimes across Scottsdale, from a single punch thrown outside a bar to the most serious felony allegations. Many of our clients are otherwise law-abiding people whose night in Old Town Scottsdale ended in an assault or disorderly-conduct arrest after a crowded-bar confrontation got out of hand, and a large share of those cases involve self-defense that the responding officers never saw. A Scottsdale violent crimes lawyer understands that the line between victim and defendant is too often decided by who called 911 first. A simple misdemeanor assault is prosecuted in Scottsdale City Court, while aggravated assault, armed robbery, and homicide are charged as felonies in Maricopa County Superior Court, where a “dangerous offense” allegation can trigger mandatory prison. This page is a practice overview of how those charges work and what each one exposes you to; each offense also has its own dedicated guide linked below.

“Violent crime” is not one offense but a ladder of them, and where you land on that ladder controls everything — the court, the penalties, and whether prison is mandatory. At the bottom is misdemeanor assault (A.R.S. 13-1203): causing physical injury, threatening to injure, or touching someone to provoke or insult. One step up, an assault becomes felony aggravated assault (A.R.S. 13-1204) the moment there is serious physical injury, a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, a restrained victim, or a protected victim such as a police officer — and depending on the conduct it ranges from a class 6 to a class 2 felony.

Above assault sit the offenses that put liberty itself at stake: kidnapping (A.R.S. 13-1304), armed robbery (A.R.S. 13-1904), and the homicide statutes — manslaughter (A.R.S. 13-1103), second-degree murder (A.R.S. 13-1104), and first-degree murder (A.R.S. 13-1105), which can carry natural life or the death penalty. Around the edges are the weapon-and-threat offenses that so often ride along with a fight: disorderly conduct with a weapon (A.R.S. 13-2904) and threatening or intimidating (A.R.S. 13-1202). We defend the full spectrum — for a deeper look at any single charge, see our statewide guides to aggravated assault in Arizona, armed robbery in Arizona, and our Arizona violent crimes overview.

Each Charge, Its Statute, and Where It Is Filed

The table below maps the core Scottsdale violent-crime charges to their statute, their offense level, and the court that hears them. Only two of these — simple assault and basic disorderly conduct — are misdemeanors that stay in Scottsdale City Court; the rest are felonies filed by the Maricopa County Attorney in Superior Court.

How Many Scottsdale Cases Start in Old Town

A striking share of Scottsdale violent-crime charges are born in the same few blocks. Old Town Scottsdale’s bar and nightclub district generates a high volume of assault, disorderly conduct, and aggravated assault arrests, especially on weekend nights when crowds, alcohol, and close quarters collide. A shove becomes a punch, a punch becomes a “serious physical injury” allegation, and a bottle or glass in someone’s hand becomes a “dangerous instrument” that turns a misdemeanor into a felony.

Whether you are charged — and with what — often turns on the injuries, the security and cell-phone video, and the witness accounts officers happen to collect first. The person who called police first is not automatically the victim. We regularly show that our client was the one defending himself, that the “victim” was the initial aggressor, or that a chaotic scene led police to arrest the wrong person entirely. Because Old Town bars and parking garages often record over their footage within days, the evidence that clears you can vanish before anyone thinks to preserve it — which is why the first days matter so much.

Self-Defense and Justification Under 13-404 and 13-405

Self-defense is the defining issue in Scottsdale violent-crime cases, and Arizona law is genuinely favorable on it. Under A.R.S. 13-404 you may use physical force when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against another person’s use or attempted use of unlawful force. Under A.R.S. 13-405, deadly physical force is justified when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to defend against another’s use or attempted use of deadly physical force.

Here is the part that changes cases: once justification is properly raised, the burden does not fall on you to prove it. The prosecutor must disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. That is why so many Old Town bar-fight cases end in a dismissal or acquittal when the defense is documented early — injuries photographed, witnesses identified, and video preserved before it is gone. Justification can also extend to the defense of a third person and, in some settings, the defense of premises. The threshold question in nearly every one of our cases is whether the force used was a reasonable response to an unlawful threat.

Dangerous Offenses and Mandatory Prison Under 13-704

The single most important allegation in a felony violent case is often not the charge itself but whether it is alleged as a “dangerous offense.” Under A.R.S. 13-704, an offense is dangerous when it involves the discharge, use, or threatening exhibition of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or the intentional or knowing infliction of serious physical injury. When that allegation attaches and is proven, the statute requires a mandatory prison sentence even for a first offense — probation is off the table.

The numbers are severe. A first-time dangerous class 3 felony, the level of a typical dangerous aggravated assault, carries a sentencing range of roughly 5 to 15 years, with a presumptive term of 7.5 years. A dangerous class 2 felony such as armed robbery reaches even higher. Because a single glass, bottle, knife, or firearm can convert an ordinary altercation into a dangerous offense, defeating or removing the dangerousness allegation is frequently the most valuable work in the entire case — the difference between probation and years in prison.

City Court vs. Superior Court: Where Your Case Is Heard

Where your case is filed tells you how serious the State considers it. A misdemeanor assault or a basic disorderly conduct arising from a Scottsdale incident is prosecuted in Scottsdale City Court, where the maximum exposure is county jail time, fines, and probation rather than prison. Felony violent charges — aggravated assault, armed robbery, kidnapping, manslaughter, and homicide — are filed by the Maricopa County Attorney and heard in Maricopa County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix, where prison is on the table and a dangerousness allegation can make it mandatory.

The split matters for more than geography. The two systems have different judges, different prosecutors, different plea practices, and very different consequences. A felony conviction costs you your firearm and voting rights; a misdemeanor generally does not. That is why one of the most important early goals in a serious case is keeping a charge in — or pulling it down to — the misdemeanor track. By attacking the “serious physical injury” or “deadly weapon” element, challenging identification, and presenting justification evidence, felony violent charges are regularly reduced to misdemeanors or resolved through diversion. For the broader picture of how a Scottsdale case moves through the system, see our guide to the Scottsdale criminal defense process.

What to Do in the First 72 Hours

What you do in the days after a violent-crime arrest can decide the case. Four steps matter most:

Preserve the evidence that proves self-defense

If you defended yourself, the proof that clears you disappears fast. Old Town Scottsdale bars, nightclubs, and parking garages record over their security video within days, so note every camera that may have captured the confrontation. Photograph your own injuries, and write down the names and numbers of anyone who saw the other person start it. In a self-defense case, this early record is often what separates a dismissal from a felony conviction.

Say nothing to police about the fight

After an altercation, the instinct is to tell officers “he swung first.” Do not. Even a truthful self-defense account can be reframed as an admission that you struck the other person, satisfying the assault elements before your justification defense is ever documented. Invoke your right to remain silent, ask for a lawyer, and say nothing else — on the scene, in the patrol car, or in a holding cell.

Know what happens at booking and first appearance

A Scottsdale violent-crime arrest usually means booking into the Scottsdale City Jail and, for a felony, transfer to a Maricopa County facility for an initial appearance within 24 hours, where a judge sets release conditions and any bond. Learn exactly what happens after a Scottsdale arrest so nothing catches you off guard.

Do not contact the other person

Reaching out to the alleged victim to “work it out” can be charged as witness tampering or violate a release condition, turning one case into two. Let your attorney handle every communication. In a domestic-violence-related assault, a no-contact order may even bar you from your own home until the case is resolved.

How Tamou Law Group Defends Scottsdale Violent-Crime Cases

These cases are won on the facts, and the work starts immediately. In the first days we get the police reports, put the State and every nearby business on notice to preserve security video before it is recorded over, photograph injuries, and pin down witnesses while memories are fresh. We look hard at the pressure points that decide the outcome: whether justification applies under 13-404 and 13-405, whether the injuries really amount to “serious physical injury,” whether a genuine deadly weapon or dangerous instrument was involved, and whether a chaotic scene led to a mistaken identification.

From there we build toward the outcome that changes everything — establishing self-defense, defeating the “serious injury” or “deadly weapon” element, removing a dangerousness allegation, or pulling a felony down to a misdemeanor in City Court. Our case results include aggravated assault and armed robbery charges that were dismissed, and felony violent charges reduced to misdemeanors. Our team includes former prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and public defenders who have handled violent cases from every side. Call 623-321-4699 for a confidential consultation, or start with the charge you are facing: Scottsdale assault, aggravated assault, threatening and intimidating, armed robbery, or disorderly conduct.