VEHICULAR AGGRAVATED ASSAULT/FATAL HIT AND RUN REDUCED to probation and no actual jail – State v. Mr. P (DMC No. 4372) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2004-007740): Mr. P. was involved in a car accident with a pedestrian in which he took off. He immediately contacted our office the next day, and we contacted Detectives in order to find out how badly the individual was hurt, and to make arrangements to turn in Mr. P. for self surrender. For 4 months Detectives could find no report indicating that there was an accident and that anyone had been struck. Our office had Mr. P.’s car put into storage and analyzed by experts. Clearly he had struck another person. After 4 months, other Detectives had inadvertently categorized the police report under “hit and run” instead of “vehicular homicide”. When the mistake was realized, the victim’s family was notified, and we struck a deal with the prosecutor to reduce a potential vehicular homicide to an AGGRAVATED ASSAULT charge. We later presented mitigating information regarding Mr. P. and had the AGGRAVATED ASSAULT DANGEROUS (which subjected him to potentially 5 to 15 years in prison minimum) down to probation with 6 months of “deferred” jail. At the conclusion of probation, the 6 months jail requirement was waived and Mr. P. did not have to serve any actual jail time.
