Scottsdale DUI Lawyer

The court hearings

The first hearing that you will have on your case in Scottsdale is called an “arraignment.” If you got a ticket from Scottsdale PD, the date for the arraignment will appear near the bottom of the “traffic ticket and complaint” near the right-hand side of the ticket. This first hearing is held so that you can enter a plea of “guilty” or “not guilty.” When I’m hired on a case, I’ll file a motion called a “notice of appearance” that will let the court know that I’m your attorney and enter a not guilty plea on your behalf. This will vacate the arraignment date (i.e., it will go away) and the court will set another court hearing called the “pretrial conference.”

In Scottsdale City Court, there are 3 different hearings. The first is the pretrial conference, the second is called the case management conference, and the third is called the trial readiness conference. Sometimes the trial readiness conference can be continued once, or rarely they will continue it twice, so that there can be 4 or 5 hearings. But usually by the second trial readiness conference the judge wants to know whether the case will resolve by a plea agreement or if the case will go to trial.

Each hearing is usually set apart about 30 days. So in my experience the standard DUI case in Scottsdale Court typically can take 3 to 5 months to resolve on average. During this time, I’m able to attend hearings on my client’s behalf while I negotiate with the prosecutor and get all the necessary discovery in your case. If there are pretrial motions that need to be litigated, such as an issue with a bad traffic stop or a right to counsel violation, they are done during this period of time.

The vast majority of DUI cases will typically resolve prior to trial.

The judges

There are four courtrooms in Scottsdale City Court, each is assigned a separate judge. The judge for courtroom 1 is Judge Statia Hendrix. Judge Hendrix handles all of Scottsdale’s domestic violence cases. She does get some DUI cases, but I get far fewer DUI cases in courtroom 1 than other courtrooms.

The judge for courtroom 2 is Judge Marianne Bayardi. Judge Bayardi handles a normal criminal calendar, but she also receives fewer DUI cases than courtrooms 3 or 4. However, if you are an out-of-state client, you may appear virtually in her courtroom because Judge Bayardi handles all of the telephonic change of plea hearings that are handled in Scottsdale Court.

Courtroom 3’s judge is Judge Orest Jejna (pronounced “YEH-nah”). Judge Jejna handles a large bulk of the DUI caseload in Scottsdale. He is an experienced judge, and I’ve found him to be very reasonable and fair to both sides in how he handles cases.

The judge for Courtroom 4 is Judge Patricia George. Judge George is the newest member of the bench in Scottsdale after the seat in Courtroom 4 was vacated by Judge Jim Blake in 2025. She worked as a city judge in Phoenix Municipal Court prior to being a judge in Scottsdale, so she has significant experience on the bench. A significant number of DUI cases also go to Courtroom 4, I find not quite as many as go to Courtroom 3, but still a decent number. My experiences with Judge George have been good, and I’ve also found her to be a fair and pleasant judge in my dealings with her.

In my opinion, the current Scottsdale judges are all fair and experienced. They’re knowledgeable and I personally find that they run efficient and well-managed courtrooms. In my dealings with courts across Arizona, I’ve never had any complaints with how Scottsdale courts are run, and if you’re a defendant in the Scottsdale Court you’re going to get a fair shake.

The prosecution

In Scottsdale each court has two prosecutors assigned to it. Many of these prosecutors have been working in the same courtroom with the same judges for years. Scottsdale prosecutors are all experienced attorneys with usually more than at least a decade of criminal law experience. Some are former defense attorneys, but most are prosecutors who worked at other prosecutorial agencies before moving to Scottsdale. Some of the prosecutors I used to know well and worked with while I was at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Other prosecutors come to my office parties. Suffice to say that I have a good relationship with the Scottsdale Prosecutor’s Office. We don’t always agree on how to handle a case, and we have no problem getting tough with each other in a professional capacity when we need to. But there is a level of mutual respect between myself and the city prosecutors that helps me advocate for my clients.