The Clifton Justice Court is located in Greenlee County, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere in eastern Arizona.

The Clifton Justice Court is a court of limited jurisdiction. This means that it only handles civil traffic tickets, misdemeanor criminal charges, and civil disputes where the amount at issue is less than $10,000.00. Clifton does not deal with felony criminal charges. Civil and misdemeanor tickets issued by the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office, Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS, or highway patrol), or Arizona Department of Transportation will wind up in Clifton if the violation occurred within Clifton’s jurisdiction.

A protective order can also be obtained at the Clifton Justice Court

Clifton Justice Court is located in Eastern Arizona, and encompasses a portion of US-191.

Clifton Justice Court does not include any major highways, so although we see charges like excessive speed in this court, we do not see as many traffic violations from this court as we do others.

Court Notes

In our experience, Clifton Justice Court will NOT permit telephonic appearances for a defendant. This can often place a defendant who lives out of state in a difficult position. This court will also require the presence of a defendant at every hearing, including pretrial conferences, even if the defendant has an attorney.

The prosecutor in this court is generally unwilling to negotiate on criminal traffic violations unless there is a factual argument. The net result is it can be difficult for a defendant, particularly one who lives far from the court, to get a good outcome in this court.

The net result of the court’s policies regarding in-person court appearances is to essentially coerce guilty pleas out of defendants. We have encountered several courts that take this position. By requiring a defendant who is not local to the court to personally appear to do anything other than enter a guilty plea (these kinds of courts will generally permit a telephonic appearance to enter a guilty plea), the defendant is left with only one practical option – plead guilty.

We have appeared in over a hundred limited jurisdiction courts in Arizona. We are very familiar with what is standard practice. With but a few exceptions, courts will permit telephonic appearances for things like pretrial conferences. So when a court like Clifton takes a position that they do not allow telephonic appearances, it really stands out from what is normal.

Grace Nabor, the justice of the peace at this court, is rated 1 star out of 5 on The Robing Room.

Due to the attitude of the court and prosecution towards defendants, we do not take cases in this court. Because the court requires defense counsel and the defendant to be present for every court date, it would be prohibitively expense to hire an attorney that does not live near the court. We don’t feel that we can add enough value to make it worthwhile for a defendant to hire us for cases in Clifton.

Lookup Your Case Online

The Clifton Justice Court does not have its own online case access, but you can look your case up online using the Arizona Supreme Court’s public access service here.

Clifton Justice Court
253 5th Street
Clifton, AZ 85533
Hours:
M-FRI, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Justice of the Peace:
Grace Nabor

Phone: 928-865-4312
Fax: 928-865-5644

There is free parking outside the front of the courthouse.