The client carried a 1996 Class 5 Felony conviction for Attempt to Commit Misconduct Involving Weapons out of Maricopa County Superior Court. Future First filed an application to seal the criminal case records under ARS § 13-911 and the court granted the application in 2026, sealing all records relating to the arrest, conviction, and sentence.
At a glance
| Original conviction | Attempt to Commit Misconduct Involving Weapons (ARS § 13-3102), Class 5 Felony, 1996 |
| Application filed | Application to Seal Criminal Case Records, ARS § 13-911, 2025 |
| Court | Maricopa County Superior Court |
| Result | Sealing Record Granted. All records relating to the arrest, conviction, and sentence sealed. |
| Rights restored | Public-facing record sealed across the court, the prosecutor, the arresting agency, and the Department of Public Safety. |
| Time from application to grant | 111 days from application filing to granted |
The challenge
A felony weapons conviction follows a person into every background check, no matter how many decades pass. Tenant screening, employment screening, professional licensing, and volunteer applications all pull from the same court records and the same Department of Public Safety repository. A 1996 conviction surfaces in 2026 as if it happened yesterday.
The client had already cleared probation, paid every fee, completed every condition, and lived a clean life for more than twenty-five years. The court record kept showing up anyway. Set aside alone does not seal the file. The application to seal under ARS § 13-911 is the step that closes the file from public view.
What we did
Future First filed an Application to Seal Criminal Case Records under ARS § 13-911 in Maricopa County Superior Court, paired with a separate application to set aside the judgment under ARS § 13-905. The sealing application laid out full sentence completion, full monetary compliance, the lack of any subsequent convictions, and the policy reasons supporting sealing under § 13-911.
For an older felony, the court weighs the nature of the offense, the time since sentence completion, and whether sealing serves the petitioner’s interest and the public’s safety. Future First built the application around the client’s decades of clean conduct and full compliance with every term the original court imposed.
The court reviewed the petition, the supporting documentation, the Department of Public Safety report under ARS § 13-911(H), and the prosecutor’s response. The judge found that the offense was eligible for sealing, that the statutory waiting period had passed, that all terms of sentencing were complete, and that granting the petition served the petitioner and the public. The order directs the Clerk of the Court to seal all records relating to the arrest, conviction, and sentence, and to transmit a copy of the order to the Department of Public Safety and the prosecutor.
What our clients say
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If you have an old felony conviction in Arizona
ARS § 13-911 lets a person seal the records of an arrest, charging, conviction, and sentence once every statutory term has been completed and the waiting period has passed. For a Class 5 Felony conviction, the wait is five years from completion of every sentence term, including probation and full payment of restitution and monetary obligations. Sealing applies to the case records held by the court, the Department of Public Safety, the prosecutor’s office, and the arresting agency.
Sealing is different from setting aside. A set aside under ARS § 13-905 vacates the judgment and dismisses the accusation but does not remove the record from public view. Sealing under ARS § 13-911 closes the record itself. Most people who qualify for sealing benefit from filing both applications together so the underlying judgment is cleared and the file is closed in one coordinated step.
Sealing does not undo every prior data leak. Anything that was published or distributed before the order, including news articles and commercial background databases that pulled data before the seal, may still surface. The court order does the work the law allows: it closes the official record at the agencies the statute reaches.
Related resources
Call us
Want to clear your record in Arizona? Call Future First Criminal Law at 602-900-6240 or request a free consultation. We have handled hundreds of Arizona record removal applications across every statute path. The cleanup is permanent and the process moves faster when handled by a firm that knows the local court.
Anonymized in line with firm policy. Client name not used. Specific dates approximated to year only. Outcome described reflects this client’s actual results. Past outcomes do not guarantee future results. For more detailed information on Arizona record removal law, visit the Arizona State Legislature website.
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