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State v. Municipal Court of City of Phoenix10/19/1978
In this appeal we must determine if a city magistrate court has subject matter jurisdiction to try a misdemeanor charge of simple assault when the facts disclose that the assault was committed on a police officer in uniform while performing her duties.
The appellee/real party in interest Daniel Saldivar was arrested after he allegedly assaulted Phoenix Police Officer Katherine K. Morgan, who was assisting in the arrest of Saldivar's friend on a drunk driving charge. The incident was of a minor nature with no blows landed and no injuries. The matter was referred to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for a possible aggravated assault prosecution under A.R.S. § 13-245 A(7), which in pertinent part reads:
An assault or battery is aggravated when committed under any of the following circumstances:
7. When the person committing the offense knows or has reason to know that the victim is a peace officer, or a person summoned and directed by such officer while engaged in the execution of any official duties.
The punishment for a violation of such an offense is set out in A.R.S. § 13-245 B:
An aggravated assault or battery shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than two thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or both, or by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one nor more than five years.
Upon the facts of the case the Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case as an aggravated assault and the matter was referred to the Phoenix City Prosecutor's Office where a complaint was filed in the Phoenix Municipal Court, charging Saldivar with simple assault, punishable as a misdemeanor under A.R.S. § 13-243:
A simple assault is punishable by a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars, or
by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three months.
Saldivar filed a motion to dismiss the complaint in the Municipal Court on the ground that such court lacked jurisdiction to try an assault upon a police officer for such an assault was an aggravated assault under A.R.S. § 13-245 A(7) and that the case cannot be tried by a municipal court or a justice court under the provisions of the jurisdiction granted those courts by A.R.S. § 22-301, the pertinent portions of which read:
The justice of the peace courts shall have jurisdiction of the following offenses committed within their respective precincts in which such courts are established, subject only to the right to change of venue as provided by law:
1. Petty Theft
2. Assault or battery not charged to have been committed upon a public officer in the discharge of his duties, or to have been committed with such intent as to render the offense a felony. [Emphasis added]
The municipal court dismissed the case and the appellants/defendants State of Arizona and Andy Baumert, Phoenix City Attorney, then filed a special action in the Maricopa County Superior Court contesting the dismissal.
The use of a special action is a proper method to contest such a dismissal. Sykes v. State ex rel. Williams, 18 Ariz. App. 588, 504 P.2d 529 (1972).
After a hearing on the special action petition in the superior court the trial judge denied relief and this appeal was filed.
Saldivar claims that the case was properly dismissed since the city magistrate court lacks jurisdiction to try an aggravated assault and that under the facts of this case he should have been charge
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