APDA Conference 2026

This program examines Arizona’s newly enacted mandatory natural-life sentencing statute for adult defendants convicted of Class 2 child sex trafficking. Faculty will walk through statutory triggers, subsection analysis, charging and plea-negotiation strategies, early motion practice, jury-instruction warfare, and constitutional preservation techniques. Emphasis is placed on how defense counsel can restructure litigation around offense classification rather than sentencing ranges, and how to ethically and effectively advocate in cases where a single conviction results in automatic life imprisonment without release.