Stage 1: Arrest or citation

Being newly charged in Maricopa County is disorienting because the case does not feel like it follows any logic. It does. The Arizona criminal court process is a defined sequence of stages, each with its own purpose, its own deadlines, and its own chances to resolve the case before it ever reaches a jury. This guide maps every stage, shows where the felony and misdemeanor paths split, and points out where a case can be won or ended early. If you want the broader picture of how we defend cases, start with our Arizona criminal defense overview.

The steps below are governed by the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure and the state criminal code. Whether your case is a felony or a misdemeanor is the single fact that shapes everything that follows, and Arizona law draws that line by the punishment involved: under A.R.S. 13-105, a felony is an offense that can send you to state prison, while a misdemeanor cannot.

Every case starts with contact from law enforcement, but not every case starts with handcuffs. For many misdemeanors and lower-level charges, an officer issues a citation or a written promise to appear and releases you on the spot with a court date. For more serious matters, you are booked into jail and held for the next stage. Either way, this is the moment your rights matter most. You are not required to answer questions or explain your side, and doing so almost never helps.

What you say and do in these first hours can shape the entire case. Ask for a lawyer, decline to give a statement, and do not consent to searches you can lawfully refuse. The State has not yet committed to a charge, and the file it builds from your own words is the file you will later have to fight.

Stage 2: Initial appearance and release conditions

If you are held in custody, your first courtroom event is the initial appearance. Under A.R.S. 13-3898, a person arrested without a warrant must be taken before the nearest available magistrate without unnecessary delay, and a complaint stating the alleged offense must be filed. In Maricopa County this typically happens within 24 hours of a booking, often by video from jail.

The initial appearance is not about guilt. The judge confirms who you are, tells you what you are accused of, and, most importantly, sets your release conditions. That can mean release on your own recognizance, release with conditions such as no contact or no alcohol, a cash or secured bond, or, in the most serious felony cases, a hold with no bond. The judge also sets your next court date. Having an attorney at or right after this stage can influence bond and conditions, which affects whether you fight the case from home or from custody.

The felony vs misdemeanor fork

This is the split that determines which courthouse you report to and how many stages you face. The dividing line is the potential punishment, not how the police described the incident. A misdemeanor carries up to six months in jail and stays in a limited jurisdiction court. A felony carries the possibility of prison and moves through the Superior Court, with extra charging steps built in.

• Misdemeanor path. Handled in a city or town municipal court (for city code and many DUI cases) or a justice court (for county-area misdemeanors). Fewer stages, faster timelines, and no grand jury.
• Felony path. Handled in the Maricopa County Superior Court. It adds a charging step, either a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment, and generally takes much longer to resolve.

Some cases start as felonies and are later reduced to misdemeanors, which can move them to a different court entirely. That possibility is one reason early defense work matters. A charge like disorderly conduct is a common example of a case that can be negotiated down or dismissed before it hardens into a felony conviction.

Stage 3: Arraignment

The arraignment is where you formally answer the charge. The court reads the counts against you, confirms you have a lawyer or advises you of your right to one, and takes your plea. In almost every case at this stage the plea entered is not guilty, which is standard and expected. Pleading not guilty preserves every option and opens the door to discovery and negotiation. It is not a statement that you deny everything forever, it is the procedural step that keeps the case alive so your attorney can work it.

Arraignment also sets the schedule for what comes next, including pretrial conference dates and disclosure deadlines. Missing your arraignment is one of the worst early mistakes you can make, because a failure to appear can trigger a bench warrant for your arrest and can add a new criminal charge on top of the original one.

Stage 4: Felony charging, preliminary hearing or grand jury

Felony cases require the State to show there is enough evidence to proceed, and Arizona allows two routes. The first is a preliminary hearing, where a judge hears limited evidence and decides whether probable cause exists to hold you to answer. The second, used often in Maricopa County, is a grand jury, where prosecutors present the case privately and ask the grand jurors to return an indictment.

Both routes reach the same result, moving the felony forward, but the preliminary hearing is one of the rare early moments where the defense can cross-examine and test the State’s evidence in open court. If the grand jury indicts first, that hearing usually goes away. This stage does not exist in misdemeanor cases, which proceed straight from arraignment toward trial.

Stage 5: Pretrial conferences and disclosure

Most of a criminal case happens here, away from any dramatic courtroom scene. Pretrial conferences are status hearings where the judge, prosecutor, and defense track the case and set deadlines. Between them, the engine running is disclosure, the exchange of evidence. The State must turn over its police reports, witness lists, lab results, body camera footage, and other material, and the defense reviews all of it for weaknesses.

Disclosure is where cases are quietly won and lost. A missing calibration record, a shaky witness statement, a gap in the chain of custody, or a constitutional problem with the stop can all surface here and reshape the leverage. This is also the stage where your attorney investigates independently, interviews witnesses, and builds the factual record that supports every negotiation and motion that follows.

Stage 6: Plea negotiations and motions

Two things run in parallel during the pretrial period, and either one can end the case. The first is plea negotiation. The vast majority of Arizona criminal cases resolve by plea agreement rather than trial, and a strong plea can mean reduced charges, a lighter sentence, probation instead of jail, or entry into a diversion program that leads to dismissal. Whether to accept an offer is one of the biggest decisions you will face, and we walk through it in detail in our guide on whether to take a plea bargain in Arizona. If your resolution involves supervision, our overview of Arizona probation rules explains what living under those terms actually looks like.

The second is motion practice. Before trial, your attorney can file motions that attack the case itself. A motion to suppress can throw out evidence gathered through an unlawful stop, search, or interrogation. A motion to dismiss can end a charge the State cannot support. When a key piece of evidence is suppressed, the prosecution’s case can collapse, which is why motions are often the true turning point rather than trial. Diversion, dismissal, and a favorable plea are all realistic off-ramps that most cases take before a jury is ever seated.

Stage 7: Trial and sentencing

If no plea or dismissal ends the case, it goes to trial. Misdemeanor trials are usually shorter and, in many courts, heard by a smaller jury or a judge, while felony trials are heard by a jury in Superior Court. At trial the State must prove every element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense can cross-examine witnesses, challenge the evidence, and present its own, and you cannot be forced to testify against yourself.

If the verdict is not guilty, the case is over. If it is guilty, or if you entered a plea, the case moves to sentencing. In Arizona, sentencing depends heavily on the class of the offense, your prior record, and whether the law makes any part of the sentence mandatory. Outcomes range from fines and probation to jail or prison, and a well-prepared sentencing presentation can meaningfully change where a defendant lands within the available range.

Stage 8: Appeal

A conviction is not always the last word. A defendant generally has the right to appeal a conviction or sentence to a higher court, but an appeal is not a second trial. It is a review of whether legal errors occurred, such as evidence that should have been excluded or an incorrect ruling by the trial judge. Appeals run on strict deadlines that start ticking at sentencing, so if you are considering one, time is not on your side and you should talk to a lawyer quickly.

How long does each stage take in Maricopa County?

Timelines vary with the charge, the court, and how contested the case is, but the table below gives realistic Maricopa County ranges so you know roughly what to expect. Felony cases almost always take longer than misdemeanors because of the extra charging step and heavier disclosure.