Underage DUI in Scottsdale: What Happens Under 21? ARS 4-244

What Happens With an Underage DUI in Scottsdale?

Arizona has two laws that reach a driver under 21, and a Scottsdale stop can produce both. The first is the zero-tolerance offense: under A.R.S. § 4-244(34) it is unlawful for a person under 21 to drive or be in actual physical control of a vehicle with any spirituous liquor in the body. No impairment and no .08 are required; a .02 is enough. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor under § 4-246(B), punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $2,500 fine under § 13-707 and § 13-802, though it carries no mandatory jail. The second is the ordinary DUI statute, A.R.S. § 28-1381, which applies to drivers of any age who are impaired to the slightest degree or at .08 or more, with its mandatory 10 consecutive days in jail, and the extreme-DUI tiers above it. An under-21 driver who tests at .05 typically faces only the zero-tolerance count; one who tests at .09 faces both.

The Two-Year License Suspension

The consequence that defines an underage DUI is the license. A conviction under § 4-244(34) requires MVD to suspend the driver license for two years: for drivers under 18 under A.R.S. § 28-3320(A)(1), and for drivers 18, 19, and 20 under § 28-3322(A). A regular DUI conviction under § 28-1381 or § 28-1382 also brings the two-year suspension for a driver under 18 (§ 28-3320(A)(1)), and a felony aggravated DUI brings three years. The court can order MVD to restrict the privilege to travel between home, school, and work during set hours (§ 28-3320(B), § 28-3322(B)), and for the 18-to-20 group that restricted privilege is issued as a special ignition interlock restricted license (§ 28-3322(C)). Two years without unrestricted driving, at 19, in a city with no practical transit, is the real sentence.

How Scottsdale Handles Underage Drivers

Old Town’s bar district, event weekends, and DUI task-force saturation patrols put a lot of under-21 drivers in front of Scottsdale officers, and the initial stop is often for something minor: a headlight, a lane drift, a checkpoint. Once age and any odor of alcohol are noted, the investigation follows the adult DUI script, field sobriety tests, a portable breath test, and a breath or blood test after arrest, because the officer is building both the zero-tolerance case and a possible § 28-1381 case. Misdemeanor counts against a driver 18 or older are filed in Scottsdale City Court; a driver under 18 goes to juvenile court, where a finding counts as a conviction for MVD purposes under § 28-3320(E). See what happens after a Scottsdale arrest and whether you go to jail for a DUI in Arizona.

The Charges Usually Filed Alongside It

• Standard or extreme DUI under § 28-1381 or § 28-1382 when the result is .08 or higher, with mandatory jail; see Scottsdale DUI defense;
• Minor in possession or consumption under § 4-244(9) for the alcohol in the car or in the driver;
• A fake-ID count under § 4-241 when the night started in Old Town, which adds its own suspension;
• Passenger charges for under-21 friends in the car.

Defenses to an Underage DUI in Scottsdale

• The stop. An unlawful stop suppresses everything after it, including the breath result;
• “Any spirituous liquor in the body.” Low readings are where breath-test error, mouth alcohol, and device calibration matter most; a .02 is within the margin the State must defend;
• Actual physical control. A parked car with the engine running for air conditioning is a recurring Arizona fact pattern with a real defense;
• Age and identity proof and the admissibility of the portable breath test;
• Charge negotiation. A resolution to an offense outside § 4-244(34) and § 28-1381, such as a non-alcohol traffic violation, is the only way to avoid the two-year suspension, and it is negotiated before the plea, not after;
• Juvenile-court handling for drivers under 18, where diversion is more available and the record is treated differently.

For the statewide framework see our underage DUI defense page and Arizona’s zero-tolerance law.

How Tamou Law Group Defends Underage DUI Cases in Scottsdale

We defend the stop and the test first, because a zero-tolerance case built on a low breath number is more fragile than it looks, and we treat the license as the client’s primary interest, negotiating for a resolution outside § 4-244(34) and § 28-1381 wherever the evidence allows. Members of the National College for DUI Defense, we handle Scottsdale City Court and juvenile cases from our Scottsdale office at 9375 E. Shea Blvd., Suite 100.

Related guides: Scottsdale DUI defense, DUI checkpoints and your rights, jail time for a DUI in Arizona, minor in possession, and our Scottsdale criminal defense page. Call 623-321-4699, 24/7.