Joseph P. St. Louis, who has been practicing law for over 25 years, is a Partner in the Law Firm of Nesci & St. Louis, P.L.L.C.. Mr. St. Louis has been recognized for his expertise in handling a variety of criminal defense cases, including major felony cases in both State and Federal courts, as well as DUI defense, DUI homicides, drug offenses, sexual offenses, violent crimes, and murder cases, including death penalty cases.

Mr. St. Louis received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Arizona in 1984, graduating with departmental honors. In 1987, he obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona College of Law. Mr. St. Louis is Certified by the Arizona State Bar as a Specialist in Criminal Law (June 2000 to the present). Only approximately five percent of attorneys currently practicing are certified as specialists in any area of the law.

Mr. St. Louis has been chosen as being one of the best attorneys in Arizona by Superlawyers magazine and AZ magazine in 2009-2012. He has been chosen as one of Tucson’s best attorneys in both Criminal Defense and DUI Defense by Tucson Lifestyles Magazine in 2011. Nesci & St. Louis has the highest rating possible given by Martindale-Hubbell, an AV-Preeminent rating, and has been recognized as one of the best law firms in the Country by U.S. News & World Report.

Mr. St. Louis is a sought-after speaker on legal issues, and has spoken on a variety of legal topics at legal education seminars sponsored by a variety of State Bar and Defense Attorney organizations in Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Mr. St. Louis is also the co-chair of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice’s annual Aggressive Defense of the Accused Impair Driver seminar.

Mr. St. Louis is a graduate of the National Highway Traffic Administration’s Student Course on Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, the National Highway Traffic Administration’s Instructor Course on Standardized Field Sobriety Testing, and the American Chemical Society’s Forensic Chromatography Course.

In 2003, at the request of the then-presiding chief judge of the Pima County Justice Courts, Mr. St. Louis served as a part-time Justice of the Peace. In 2006, he also served as the president of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice – Arizona’s leading defense attorney organization, with over 400 members.

Mr. St. Louis is death penalty-qualified, both in state court where he was lead counsel in Pima County’s first death penalty case tried completely to a jury (the client received a prison sentence after Mr. St. Louis convinced the jury not to impose the death penalty), and in federal court where he was found to be qualified as "Learned Counsel," a designation reserved for only the most qualified attorneys handling these cases. Mr. St. Louis has the unique distinction of having had two back-to-back first-degree murder cases in which the judges dismissed all murder charges during trial.

Mr. St. Louis has tried over 150 cases to juries, on both misdemeanor and felony charges, in Federal court and in State courts throughout Arizona. He has also argued cases before the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.