Scottsdale City Court
What kind of cases does Scottsdale City Court handle?
Scottsdale City Court handles any tickets issued by the Scottsdale City Police. Scottsdale City Court also handles misdemeanor traffic cases, other misdemeanor criminal cases, code violation cases, and protective orders.
Scottsdale City Court processes over 80,000 cases a year, 75% of which are civil traffic cases – that’s over 60,000 civil traffic cases a year. While we are not privy to the specifics of the civil traffic cases Scottsdale City Court processes, it’s a safe guess that the vast majority of those 60,000+ civil traffic cases are photo enforcement cases.
We frequently represent clients with criminal speeding tickets and other criminal traffic tickets in Scottsdale City Court, as well as clients with photo enforcement tickets.
It is not unusual for a driver to receive multiple photo enforcement tickets at the same location just minutes apart. This is typically a driver who is not familiar with Scottsdale and who is lost, and drives up and down the road intent on finding their destination, but unaware of Scottsdale’s many photo enforcement devices.
Many of our clients live locally, but a lot of the drivers we help live out-of-state and received their traffic ticket while they were visiting Scottsdale on vacation or for a business conference.
Does the driver need to appear in Scottsdale City Court after they receive a ticket?
For a photo enforcement ticket, the defendant typically does not need to ever appear in court; an attorney can appear for them. For criminal traffic tickets, we can typically either appear in court for our clients or arrange for an appearance by telephone if our client lives far away. The one exception is for a trial. For a trial, the defendant needs to be present.
If you have received a traffic ticket in Scottsdale, give us a call, and pick our brains about what to expect. We are very familiar with this court. Even if you don’t hire us, you we will give you good information to help you make an informed decision.
Scottsdale Court Process – Criminal Cases
Scottsdale runs things a little differently than most other courts. For a criminal case, there are potentially 5 court dates:
- Arraignment
- Pretrial Conference
- Case Management Conference
- Trial Readiness Conference
- Trial or Change of Plea hearing
You can click on the links above to read more. The case management conference and trial readiness conference are essentially pretrial conferences, but they have different names to indicate where the case is in the process. Scottsdale will let an attorney appear for the defendant at the pretrial conference and case management conference, but will generally require that the defendant appears for the trial readiness conference. If no agreement is reached by the trial readiness conference, then the case will be set for a trial. A change of plea hearing can occur anywhere along the way once an agreement is reached.
What do we think about Scottsdale City Court?
Scottsdale City Court is one of the better run courts in the State. The court rules quickly on motions, and is generally very responsive.
The physical building of the court is relatively new and clean, it is rarely crowded, and parking is never an issue.
Most of the judges have been there a long time. We find the judges to be very professional and easy to get along with, even if we don’t always agree with the outcome.
Similarly, the Scottsdale City Prosecutor’s Office is well organized and fairly easy to communicate with. Most of the prosecutors have been in their role for a long time. In other words, there is very little turnover, especially compared to other prosecutorial agencies like the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. This results in prosecutors who know the law and their cases well. We find that the prosecutors in Scottsdale are open to considering reasonable legal arguments.
Where is Scottsdale City Court?
Scottsdale City Court
3700 N. 75th Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
There is plenty of free parking out front of the court.
Hours:
M-F 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Phone: 480-312-2442
Fax: 480-312-2764
How can I look up my case in Scottsdale?
Scottsdale has a great website where you can look up a case and see the status. Scottsdale also accepts payments online, and you can even request defensive driving school online for civil traffic violations.
Website: https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/court