Arizona

Criminal Procedure

Criminal Procedure

Rule 15.8 – Disclosure Before a Plea Agreement Expires or is Withdrawn; Sanctions

(a)Disclosure Obligation. If the State has filed an indictment or information in superior court and extends a plea offer to a defendant, the State must disclose to the defendant when it makes the offer the items listed in Rule 15.1(b) to the extent that it possesses the required information and has not previously made such a disclosure.
(b)Violation. If the State makes the disclosure less than 30 days before the offer expires or is withdrawn, a court may sanction the State under (d) unless the State shows that the prosecutor reasonably believed, based on newly discovered information, that an offer should be withdrawn because it was contrary to the interests of justice.
(c)Effect on Other Required Disclosures. This rule does not affect any disclosure obligation otherwise imposed by law. While a plea offer is pending, the prosecutor must continue to comply with Rule 15.6, but additional disclosures under that rule do not extend the 30-day period specified in (b). Disclosure of evidence after the offer expires or is withdrawn, including the results of any scientific testing, does not violate this rule if the evidence did not exist, or the State was not aware of it, when the State extended the offer.
(d)Sanctions. On a defendant’s motion alleging a violation of this rule, the court must consider the impact of any violation of (a) on the defendant’s decision to accept or reject a plea offer. If the court finds that the State’s failure to provide a required disclosure materially affected the defendant’s decision and if the State declines to reinstate the lapsed or withdrawn plea offer, the court–as a presumptive minimum sanction–must preclude the admission at trial of any evidence not disclosed as required by (a).

Ariz. R. Crim. P. 15.8

Added August 31, 2017, effective January 1, 2018.

HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES

Former Rule 15.8, relating to disclosure prior to expiration or withdrawal of a plea offer and sanctions, was abrogated effective January 1, 2018.

Former Rule 15.8, relating to non-severability, was repealed as obsolete.