WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCOTTSDALE CRIMINAL LITTERING

As ridiculous as it sounds, Scottsdale criminalizes littering. When we think of littering, we usually think of someone throwing trash out the window of their car.  Every now and again, we will be retained by a person who was cited for flicking their cigarette butt out the window, generally cited by an overly aggressive police officer, but this is not the majority of our cases.

Most of the time, we are hired by people who were exiting a ride share or leaving their car, finishing their last drink before entering a bar or club, place their drink on the curb or wall, then all of a sudden, approached by a Scottsdale bike cop and cited for criminal littering.

While Arizona does not have a law against littering, Scottsdale City Code criminalizes littering – the City Code can be found under 19-36. All City Code violations are criminal misdemeanors, subject to misdemeanor consequences, including probation, possible jail, fines, community service, etc. Please do not consider criminal littering to be a slap on the wrist or think that you can simply pay a fine and it will go away.

Because we routinely conduct consultations for criminal littering, below you will find frequently asked questions:

The police officer didn’t check whether there was alcohol in the container.

The presence of alcohol in the container is irrelevant when it comes to Criminal Littering. The mere fact that you allegedly did not properly dispose of the container is sufficient for criminal littering.

Why didn’t the officer just ask me to throw the cup away?

Who knows. Scottsdale Police Officers can be extremely aggressive. I’m guessing they would rather flex their authority than give someone a break.

What happens at my first court date?

Your first court date is just a not guilty hearing – nothing more. You will not be able to argue your side of the case or ask for leniency. You simply plead not guilty. If you have a lawyer, the hearing doesn’t even take place.

Based on what I’ve told you, what happens if I represent myself.

Representing yourself is a mistake. Anything could happen when you don’t have proper legal assistance. Our fees are extremely reasonable. Because we are in Scottsdale every day of the week, we can charge less than other lawyers. Most lawyers high fees do so because they don’t have any other employees. They need to charge more to limit their case load. Our attorneys are handling anywhere between 2-5 Scottsdale Court cases per day.  We will there anyway, so there’s no need to charge excessive fees.

Can you help get my case dismissed?

A. Absolutely. We pride ourselves on getting cases dismissed.

I’m too busy to go to court and can’t travel back to Scottsdale, what should I do?

All the more reason to hire us. If you decide to retain our office, you will not have to set foot in court.