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Charged with a Violent Crime in Arizona?
Your Freedom Can't Wait.
A violent crime charge can put your freedom, reputation, and future at risk. Whether you are being investigated or have already been arrested, what you do next matters. Get clear answers about your options and start building your defense now.
Two words decide most violent crime cases in Arizona before a jury ever hears evidence: dangerous offense. When the state alleges that an offense involved a deadly weapon, a dangerous instrument, or the intentional infliction of serious physical injury, ARS 13-704 takes over. Probation disappears. Suspended sentences disappear. The judge is left choosing a number inside a mandatory prison range, and the bottom of that range is often measured in years.
That is why the same underlying act can produce wildly different outcomes. An assault charged as a non-dangerous Class 4 felony can end in probation. The same assault charged as a dangerous Class 3 felony carries a five-year floor. Fighting the dangerous allegation is frequently more valuable than fighting the charge itself.
Matthew Lopez Law defends violent crime charges throughout Arizona. Contact our firm for a confidential consultation.
| Offense | Statute | Classification |
| First degree murder | ARS 13-1105 | Class 1 felony |
| Second degree murder | ARS 13-1104 | Class 1 felony |
| Manslaughter | ARS 13-1103 | Class 2 felony |
| Negligent homicide | ARS 13-1102 | Class 4 felony |
| Aggravated assault | ARS 13-1204 | Class 2 to Class 6 felony |
| Assault | ARS 13-1203 | Class 1, 2, or 3 misdemeanor |
| Kidnapping | ARS 13-1304 | Class 2, 3, or 4 felony |
| Unlawful imprisonment | ARS 13-1303 | Class 6 felony |
| Threatening or intimidating | ARS 13-1202 | Class 1 misdemeanor or Class 3 or 6 felony |
| Armed robbery | ARS 13-1904 | Class 2 felony |
Arizona sorts unlawful killings by mental state, and the gap between rungs is enormous.
First degree murder requires premeditation, or a death caused during certain predicate felonies under the felony murder rule. A Class 1 felony conviction carries death, natural life, or life with the possibility of release only after 25 calendar years.
Second degree murder is an intentional or knowing killing without premeditation, or conduct creating a grave risk of death that shows extreme indifference to human life. Sentencing runs from a 10-year minimum through a 16-year presumptive term to a 25-year maximum.
Manslaughter covers reckless killings, killings in the heat of passion on adequate provocation, assisting a suicide, and killings committed under duress. As a Class 2 felony, a non-dangerous first offense carries a presumptive 5 years within a 3 to 12.5 year range. Charged as a dangerous offense, which is common where a weapon or vehicle is involved, the range jumps to 7 to 21 years with a 10.5-year presumptive term and no probation.
Negligent homicide is the lowest rung, applying when the defendant failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk. As a non-dangerous Class 4 felony, it carries up to 3.75 years and probation is possible. As a dangerous Class 4 felony, which is typical in fatal vehicle cases because a car qualifies as a dangerous instrument, the range is 4 to 8 years in prison.
Arizona has no separate vehicular homicide statute. Fatal crashes are prosecuted under these same four laws, which is why moving a case from manslaughter down to negligent homicide can save a decade.
Assault under ARS 13-1203 is a misdemeanor. It covers causing physical injury (Class 1), placing someone in reasonable apprehension of imminent injury (Class 2), and knowingly touching with intent to injure, insult, or provoke (Class 3).
Aggravated assault under ARS 13-1204 is always a felony. There is no misdemeanor version. An ordinary assault becomes aggravated when a specific factor is present: serious physical injury, a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, a fracture or substantial disfigurement, a bound or restrained victim, an adult assaulting a child under 15, a protected victim such as a peace officer or healthcare worker, strangulation in a domestic violence setting, or an assault committed while violating a protective order. The felony class runs from Class 6 to Class 2 depending on which factor applies.
Kidnapping under ARS 13-1304 is broader than most people expect. It requires knowingly restraining another person with one of several intents, including holding for ransom, using the person as a shield or hostage, inflicting death or injury or a sexual offense, aiding the commission of a felony, or interfering with a governmental function. No significant movement or distance is required. Restraint in a single room can support the charge.
Unlawful imprisonment is the lesser offense, a Class 6 felony covering knowing restraint without the aggravating intents that make a case kidnapping.
For most violent felonies, the practical question is not the charge but the allegation attached to it. Compare first-offense ranges:
| Class | Non-Dangerous (ARS 13-702) | Dangerous (ARS 13-704) |
| Class 2 | 3 to 12.5 years, presumptive 5 | 7 to 21 years, presumptive 10.5 |
| Class 3 | 2 to 8.75 years, presumptive 3.5 | 5 to 15 years, presumptive 7.5 |
| Class 4 | 1 to 3.75 years, presumptive 2.5 | 4 to 8 years, presumptive 6 |
Non-dangerous cases can end in probation. Dangerous cases cannot. A defense that defeats the dangerousness allegation, by showing no weapon was used as a weapon, or that the injury does not meet the statutory definition of serious physical injury, changes the entire sentencing landscape.
Self-defense and defense of others. Arizona justification law under ARS 13-404 and ARS 13-405 permits reasonable force, including deadly force in defined circumstances. Once justification is properly raised, the state must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mental state. Every offense on the homicide ladder turns on intent, knowledge, recklessness, or criminal negligence. Moving the proven mental state down one level moves the charge down with it.
Serious physical injury definition. The term has a specific statutory meaning involving a reasonable risk of death, serious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a body organ. Injuries that are painful but do not meet that definition should not support the higher classification.
Identification and forensics. Witness identification, DNA, ballistics, and accident reconstruction are all contestable through independent expert review.
Provocation and heat of passion. Evidence of adequate provocation can reduce a murder charge to manslaughter.
Violent crime charges in Arizona are decided in the details: which mental state the state can actually prove, whether the injury meets the statutory threshold, and whether the dangerous offense allegation survives scrutiny. Those fights happen early, through motions and expert review, long before trial.
We serve clients in Tempe, Mesa, Apache Junction, Lake Havasu, Parker, and statewide. Payment plans available. Every interaction confidential.
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