Arizona’s extradition laws, codified in Title 13, Chapter 38, Article 5 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, follow the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act and govern how someone wanted for a crime in another state is arrested in Arizona and transferred back.1Office of the Arizona Governor. Extradition Information If you are the one in custody, three things matter most: how long Arizona can hold you before the paperwork arrives, whether you can post bail, and what you can actually argue in front of a judge. The short answer is that the hold can stretch close to 90 days, bail is available in most cases but not all, and a judge will check the paperwork and your identity but will not hear your defense to the underlying charge.
How the Hold Begins Before Any Governor’s Warrant
Extradition often starts well before the two governors have exchanged any documents. Arizona law gives police two ways to take a suspected fugitive into custody right away.
Under ARS 13-3853, any credible person can swear out a complaint before an Arizona judge alleging someone in the state is wanted for a crime elsewhere, and the judge can issue a warrant.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3853 – Arrest Prior to Requisition Under ARS 13-3854, a peace officer or even a private citizen can arrest without any warrant at all, based on reasonable information that the person is charged in another state with a crime punishable by death or more than one year in prison. The arrested person must then be brought before a judge as quickly as possible.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3854 – Arrest Without a Warrant
At that first court appearance, if the judge finds you are probably the person charged and probably committed the crime, the judge can commit you to jail for up to 30 days while everyone waits for the governor’s warrant from the demanding state.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3855 – Commitment to Await Requisition If the warrant has not arrived by then, the judge can extend custody for up to 60 more days, reset bail, or release you.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3857 – Extension; Bail; Discharge That is the roughly 90-day ceiling. Judges can release sooner, but they are not required to.
What the Governor’s Warrant Requires
The formal process runs between the two governors. The demanding state’s governor sends a written request to Arizona’s governor, and under ARS 13-3842 Arizona’s governor has a duty to arrest and deliver a person charged in another state who has fled and is found here.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3842 – Fugitives From Justice; Duty of Governor
The paperwork has to be in order. ARS 13-3843 requires a copy of an indictment, an information supported by an affidavit, or an affidavit made before a magistrate in the demanding state, charging a crime under that state’s law and authenticated by that state’s governor.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3843 – Form of Demand ARS 13-3845 adds that the demand must show you were present in the demanding state when the crime happened and then fled, that you are now in Arizona, and that you are lawfully charged or escaped from confinement or violated parole. A photograph with an identifying affidavit or certified fingerprints must come with it.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3845 – Extradition Documents; Contents
One exception matters: ARS 13-3846 allows extradition even when you were never physically present in the demanding state, as long as you committed an act in Arizona or another state that intentionally caused a crime there.9Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3846 – Extradition of Persons Not Present in Demanding State at Time of Commission of Crime This closes the door on an argument people often expect to make, namely that they cannot be extradited because they were never physically in the other state.
When You Can Post Bail
Bail in extradition is more restricted than in a regular Arizona criminal case. Under ARS 13-3856, the judge must set bail unless one of three conditions applies:
- The offense in the demanding state carries a potential sentence of death or life in prison.
- You allegedly escaped from a jail or prison in the demanding state.
- You allegedly violated conditions of release after being convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment.
If none of those apply, you are entitled to bail, typically conditioned on appearing at all court dates and surrendering when the governor’s warrant comes through.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3856 – Bail; In What Cases; Conditions of Bond Expect a high number. The flight risk in an extradition case is obvious to any judge, and bond amounts reflect that. If you post bail and then fail to appear, the court declares the bond forfeited.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3858 – Forfeiture of Bail
Challenging Extradition Through Habeas Corpus
Once you are arrested on a governor’s warrant, ARS 13-3850 requires the arresting officer to tell you about the demand, the crime charged, and your right to a lawyer. If you or your attorney wants to challenge the arrest, you must be brought before a judge of a court of record, who sets a deadline for filing a habeas corpus petition. The county prosecutor and the demanding state’s agent get notice of the hearing.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3850 – Duty of Arresting Officer; Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus; Notice
The scope of habeas review is narrow, and understanding that scope is the single most important thing a person facing extradition can do. The judge looks at roughly four questions: whether the extradition documents are facially valid, whether you are the person named in the demand, whether you are charged with a crime in that state, and whether you were in the demanding state at the time of the alleged offense (subject to the ARS 13-3846 exception). If the paperwork is clean and the identity matches, the judge orders the transfer to proceed.
What the judge will not do is weigh whether you committed the crime. You cannot argue self-defense. You cannot argue mistaken identity on the merits. You cannot raise an alibi, a flawed investigation, or any other substantive defense. Those arguments belong in the demanding state’s courtroom, and Arizona courts will not hear them during extradition. This is where most challenges fail, because people arrive expecting a trial-like hearing and get a procedural checkpoint instead.
The notification requirement has teeth. An officer who hands you over to the demanding state’s agent without first informing you of your rights and giving you a chance to seek habeas review commits a Class 2 misdemeanor under ARS 13-3851.13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3851 – Noncompliance With Preceding Section; Classification
Waiving Extradition
Some people choose to waive extradition and return voluntarily. Waiving skips the habeas review and shortens the time you spend in an Arizona jail waiting for the governor’s warrant paperwork to work through the system. The tradeoff is that you give up any procedural challenges you might have raised, so the decision depends on whether a habeas challenge has any realistic chance of success. That is a question for a defense attorney who has looked at the actual paperwork.
Waiving is not optional for everyone. If you are supervised under the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision, Rule 3.109 required you to sign a waiver of extradition when you applied for your interstate transfer, and that waiver covers any state you may later abscond to. The sending state can retake you at any time without going through formal extradition or waiting for a governor’s warrant.14Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision. Rule 3.109 – Waiver of Extradition This applies to qualifying misdemeanor convictions as well as felonies.15Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision. Extradition Officials Guide
If You Also Have Pending Charges in Arizona
Being wanted in another state does not pause an Arizona prosecution. Under ARS 13-3859, the governor has discretion to either surrender you on the other state’s demand or hold you until Arizona’s case is resolved through acquittal, conviction, and sentencing.16Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3859 – Persons Under Criminal Prosecution in This State at Time of Requisition Arizona does not forfeit its own prosecution by sending you out of state, and it can bring you back later.
If Arizona decides to resolve its case first, you may spend months or longer in custody here before you even start dealing with the charges in the other state. Defense attorneys sometimes try to negotiate the order of proceedings based on which case is more serious and where the outcome is likely to be more favorable.
Your Rights During the Process
Extradition rights are narrower than ordinary criminal rights, but several real protections apply:
- The arresting officer must tell you which state is demanding your return, what crime you are charged with, and that you have the right to counsel.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3850 – Duty of Arresting Officer; Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus; Notice
- You can hire an attorney or request a public defender if you cannot afford one.
- You can file for habeas corpus review, limited to the procedural and identity questions described above.
- You are entitled to bail unless your case falls into one of the three excluded categories under ARS 13-3856.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-3856 – Bail; In What Cases; Conditions of Bond
- Officers face criminal penalties for handing you over before you have been informed of your rights and given a chance to seek habeas review.
The one right you do not have is to relitigate the underlying charge in Arizona. Save those arguments for the state that wants you back.