The classification on your charging document does more work than almost anything else in the case. It determines which court you appear in, the maximum exposure, whether prison is on the table, and what your record looks like for the rest of your life.
Arizona sorts every offense into a felony class, a misdemeanor class, or a petty offense. The statute defining the crime sets the class, which is why two people who did roughly the same thing can face very different consequences.
The Simplest Version of the Line
A misdemeanor can mean jail. A felony can mean prison.
Jail is county custody, generally capped at six months for a misdemeanor, and it is run locally. Prison is state custody under the Department of Corrections, measured in years, with no work release.
Everything else follows from that difference.
Arizona’s Misdemeanor Classes
Three classes, plus petty offenses. The maximum jail terms come from A.R.S. § 13-707 and the fine and probation limits from the companion sentencing statutes.
| Class | Maximum jail | Maximum fine | Probation |
| Class 1 misdemeanor | 6 months | $2,500 | Up to 3 years |
| Class 2 misdemeanor | 4 months | $750 | Up to 2 years |
| Class 3 misdemeanor | 30 days | $500 | Up to 1 year |
| Petty offense | None | $300 | Not applicable |
Those fine figures are base amounts before surcharges, and Arizona surcharges are substantial enough to multiply what you actually owe. The City of San Luis publishes the same breakdown on its prosecutor’s page, which also notes that a court may allow community restitution credited at ten dollars an hour in place of a fine where a person cannot pay.
Common class 1 misdemeanors include a first DUI, simple assault causing injury, shoplifting under the felony threshold, and driving on a suspended license.
Repeat Misdemeanors Move Up a Class
This catches people. Under § 13-707(B), an adult convicted of the same misdemeanor or petty offense within two years of the current offense is sentenced at the next higher class. Traffic offenses are excluded, and time spent incarcerated during that window does not count toward the two years.
A second identical class 2 misdemeanor is therefore punished as a class 1. The same escalation logic drives the mandatory treatment requirement attached to a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction.
Arizona’s Six Felony Classes
Felonies run from class 1, the most serious, down to class 6.
Class 1 is reserved for first and second degree murder. Everything else falls into classes 2 through 6, with class 2 covering offenses like armed robbery and serious drug charges and class 6 covering the least serious felonies.
Arizona does not use a simple maximum. Each class carries a range built around a presumptive term, with mitigated and minimum terms below it and maximum and aggravated terms above it. Where a sentence lands depends on aggravating and mitigating factors, whether the offense was dangerous, and whether you have prior felony convictions, all of which is laid out in our guide to how sentencing works.
Three things shift the calculation sharply. A dangerous offense allegation, meaning use or exhibition of a deadly weapon or infliction of serious physical injury, raises the range and can remove probation as an option. Prior felony convictions raise it again under the repetitive offender provisions. And certain categories carry mandatory prison regardless of circumstances.
The Class 6 Felony Sits on the Line
This is the most useful thing on this page, and most people charged with one have never heard of it.
For a class 6 felony that is not a dangerous offense, Arizona allows a court to enter judgment for a class 1 misdemeanor instead, where entering a felony conviction would be unduly harsh given the nature of the offense and the person’s history. A court may also leave the offense undesignated at sentencing, meaning it hangs in an unresolved state while a person completes probation and is designated a misdemeanor on successful completion.
The practical effect is enormous. A class 6 felony that gets designated down is not a felony conviction, which means the rights a felony costs you stay intact. Negotiating for an undesignated class 6, and then earning the designation, is one of the most valuable outcomes available in Arizona criminal practice and a frequent objective in theft and property cases.
Which Court Hears Your Case
The classification determines the courtroom.
- City and town courts handle misdemeanors, traffic, and code violations arising inside municipal limits. Yuma and San Luis each maintain their own court and their own city prosecutor.
- Justice courts handle misdemeanors arising in unincorporated parts of the county. Yuma County operates three precincts, based in Yuma, Somerton, and Wellton. Justice courts also conduct felony preliminary hearings even though they cannot try a felony.
- Superior Court handles all felonies. In Yuma County that means the Justice Center on West 2nd Street, with cases filed through the Clerk of the Superior Court.
Where the offense happened therefore decides who prosecutes it. Misdemeanors inside Yuma city limits go to the City Prosecutor. Felonies anywhere in the county, and misdemeanors outside city limits, go to the Yuma County Attorney. Our guide to the case sequence follows each route from charge to disposition.
Why the Classification Gets Litigated
Many Arizona statutes move an offense between classes based on a single fact. The dollar value of property taken. Whether a weapon was present. Whether the person had a prior conviction. Whether an injury counted as serious physical injury.
That means the class is frequently arguable rather than fixed, and moving a charge down a class, or from a felony to a misdemeanor, often matters more to a person’s life than any argument about guilt. It is the central objective in a great many felony cases.
Talk to an Arizona Criminal Defense Attorney
The class on your charging document is a starting position, not a verdict. Citrine Law handles criminal defense throughout Yuma County and appears regularly for clients charged near the border. The consultation is free, we work in English and Spanish, and nothing you tell us leaves this office. Call us today.