Arizona Supreme Court Decisions 2016

Justia Opinion Summary: The two defendants in this case were juveniles when they fatally shot their victims. Defendants were each convicted of first degree murder. Defendants were sentenced to natural life imprisonment under Ariz. Rev. Stat.…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of second degree burglary. In the middle of deliberations and after the jurors stopped for the day, the parties agreed to replace one juror with an alternate juror. The jury…

Justia Opinion Summary: A grand jury indicted Jesse Mesa in May 2014 for first degree murder and other charges. Mesa was arraigned the same month. The State did not file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, and trial was set. In April…

Justia Opinion Summary: This case concerned the warrantless search of the residence of Defendant, a probationer. As a result of the search Defendant was charged with felony possession of narcotic drugs for sale and other offenses. Defendant…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2011, the Arizona Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1609, which changed the Elected Officials’ Retirement Plan by changing the formula for calculating future benefit increases for retired Plan members and increased the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Sammantha Allen and John Allen, a married couple, were indicted by a grand jury for first degree felony murder. The indictment concurrently charged the Allens with multiple counts of child abuse. The State filed a notice…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of child molestation and sexual abuse of a minor under age fifteen. Under Ariz. Rev. Stat. 13-1407(E), it is a defense to a prosecution for sexual abuse or child molestation…

Justia Opinion Summary: For many years, the City of Phoenix has contracted in collective bargaining agreements with police officers to pay officers for certain time spent on behalf of a police union (“release time”) rather than regular police…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with necrophilia and two counts of sexual assault. Defendant moved to suppress evidence of a video taken with his cell phone that he left in the victim’s apartment where he was an overnight guest,…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first degree murder and kidnapping and sentenced to death. For reasons unrelated to this appeal, the Supreme Court remanded for a new penalty phase trial on the murder…

Justia Opinion Summary: Premier Physicians Group, a non-hospital health care provider, treated Mandy Gipson for injuries sustained in a car accident allegedly caused by Kimberly Navarro. Premier was statutorily entitled to record a lien for its…

Justia Opinion Summary: Frank Tamburri seeks the Libertarian Party nomination for United States Senator in the 2016 election. Pursuant to A.R.S. 16-314, Tamburri timely filed a nomination petition which included 4,205 signatures. Robert Graham,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Medicare Part C, 42 U.S.C. 1395w-21 et seq., permits enrollees to obtain Medicare-covered healthcare services from private healthcare organizations and their third-party contractors. The Employee Retirement Income…

Justia Opinion Summary: First American Title Insurance Company issued two title insurance policies to Johnson Bank for two properties that secured the Bank’s loans. The policies failed to disclose encumbrances that allegedly affected the value…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was charged with importation of marijuana, transportation of marijuana for sale, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Before trial, Defendant notified the court that he intended to raise a duress defense by…

Justia Opinion Summary: Arizona Water Company (AWC), a utility company, sought a rate increase and proposed a step-increase mechanism that would allow the Arizona Corporation Commission to adjust rates between full rate cases. The rate increase…

Justia Opinion Summary: When A.C. was born, Mother signed an affidavit of paternity falsely stating that A.C.’s father was unknown. Mother also signed a consent to adoption in favor of Petitioners. When Petitioners found no notice of claim of…

Justia Opinion Summary: Police officers detained Defendant, who was sitting on a curb outside a vacant building, and questioned him about a suspected burglary. Defendant admitted to the burglary and was arrested. Before his trial, Defendant…

Justia Opinion Summary: A car driven by Courtney Cramer rear-ended a vehicle in which Tammy Munguia was a passenger. The next year, Munguia had surgery on her back to treat her persistent low back pain that resulted from the accident. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: Based on the odor of marijuana emanating from a storage warehouse, police officers obtained a warrant to search a unit in the warehouse. In the ensuing search, the officers seized marijuana growing equipment and hundreds…

Justia Opinion Summary: Police officers stopped Defendant’s vehicle for unlawful window tinting. Upon approaching the vehicle and speaking with Defendant, the officers noticed an odor of burnt marijuana emanating from inside the vehicle. The…

Justia Opinion Summary: After Defendant resisted, two police officers subdued and handcuffed him. The resistance and arrest formed one uninterrupted course of conduct. Defendant was indicted on two counts of resisting arrest under Ariz. Rev.…

Justia Opinion Summary: An undercover police officer approached Gray at a bus stop and, in a secretly-recorded conversation, asked if Gray could help him get some crack cocaine. Gray agreed to obtain 20 dollars’ worth of cocaine for a 10-dollar…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of nine counts of first degree murder, among other crimes. The trial court imposed nine death sentences for the murders. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant’s convictions and…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty on sixty-seven counts, including nine counts of first-degree murder. The jury returned death verdicts on all nine murder charges. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the…

Justia Opinion Summary: First American Title Insurance Company issued title insurance policies to Johnson Bank for properties that secured the Bank’s loans. The policies failed to list covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) that…

Justia Opinion Summary: The State charged Alejandra Moran with the first-degree murder of L.U., who was stabbed. Moran moved to exclude an excerpt from a cellphone video recorded by a witness to the stabbing on the ground that it was…

Justia Opinion Summary: Patients filed suit to set aside accord and satisfaction agreements and to recover the amounts paid to release liens. Hospitals, health care providers who treated patients injured by third parties, were paid by the…

Justia Opinion Summary: Francis Kraps was indicted on two counts of child prostitution in violation of A.R.S. 13-3212(B)(2). During a pre-trial hearing, the superior court advised Kraps that if he was convicted, the court was required to impose…

Justia Opinion Summary: Physicians are immunized from prosecution for providing written certifications under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA). In this case, Defendant, a physician, certified a drug task force confidential informant…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI) and taken to a police station, where he was read an “admin per se” form. The form provided that “Arizona law requires you to…

Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant was arrested for operating a motorized watercraft while under the influence of alcohol or drugs (OUI) and transported to an aid station used by the sheriff’s office. Defendant read an “OUI Admonishment” form,…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a minor. The court of appeals affirmed the convictions and…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff sued Defendant for breach of contract, and Defendant counterclaimed. The trial lasted twelve trial days. During deliberations, a juror asked a bailiff “how long deliberations typically lasted.” The bailiff…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 1993, Defendant, who was seventeen years old at the time, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges. Defendant was sentenced to life in prison. Defendant later filed a petition for post-conviction relief…

Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff was diagnosed with drug-induced lupus, allegedly a side effect from using Solodyn, a treatment for acne. Plaintiff sued Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation, which manufactures and distributes Solodyn, alleging…

Justia Opinion Summary: After a second jury trial, Defendant was convicted of second degree murder. The State’s evidence supporting the conviction included testimony by a firearms examiner that a certain pistol had fired six shell casings found…

Justia Opinion Summary: Mother filed this action to terminate the parental rights of Father to their minor child on the ground of abandonment. After a contested severance hearing, the juvenile court found that Father had abandoned the child and…