This Maricopa dismissed case sealed under ARS § 13-911 closes a gap most people never see coming. The client’s misdemeanor charges were dismissed years ago and the original court sealed its own records. A procedural transfer had created a second, public copy of the case in Maricopa County Superior Court. Future First found it and got it sealed.
At a glance
| Original case | Misdemeanor charges from a 2019 arrest, every count dismissed in 2021, no conviction |
| Application filed | Petition to Seal Criminal Case Records, ARS § 13-911, 2026 |
| Court | Maricopa County Superior Court |
| Result | Sealing Record Granted, all superior court records of the case sealed |
| Rights restored | N/A, no conviction was entered |
| Time from application to grant | 32 days from application filing to granted |
The challenge
The client was arrested in Scottsdale in 2019 on misdemeanor charges. During the case, the matter was transferred to Maricopa County Superior Court for a limited procedural step, then returned to the city court. The city court dismissed every count in 2021. No conviction was ever entered.
The client then did the right thing on his own. He petitioned the city court to seal its records and won in 2023. He tried to seal the superior court copy too, and that petition was dismissed on procedural grounds. So the dismissed case lived on in the superior court’s public index. A simple name search still returned it, which undercut the sealing he had already earned and kept a dismissed case visible to employers and landlords.
What we did
Future First mapped the full procedural history and found the exact gap: the superior court docket existed only because of the transfer, yet it survived the city court sealing untouched. Future First filed a new petition under ARS § 13-911 in the correct posture, asked the court to take notice of the existing city court sealing order, and documented that every count had been dismissed and that the client had no other criminal history.
The court agreed. It found the records eligible, found sealing in the best interests of the client and the public, and granted the petition, sealing all superior court records relating to the case and transmitting the order to the Department of Public Safety and the prosecutor. The Maricopa dismissed case sealed in 32 days from filing to grant.
The win here was diagnostic. The client had already done everything a reasonable person would think to do. What he needed was a firm that understood why a Maricopa dismissed case sealed at the city level can still show up in a county database, and how to close that loop. Future First sealed the companion transferred case for the same client as well.
What our clients say
Read what clients say about working with Future First on our Google reviews page or our client reviews page.
If you have an old case in Arizona
Dismissed charges qualify for sealing under ARS § 13-911 with no waiting period. If your charges were dismissed or you were found not guilty, you can petition to seal the arrest records, the charging documents, and the court case records right away. Sealed records come out of the databases background check companies pull from.
Watch for the multi-court trap. Arizona cases move between courts for transfers, appeals, and procedural steps, and each court keeps its own records. Sealing one court’s file does not seal another’s. A records check across every court that ever touched your case is the difference between a record that looks sealed and one that actually is.
Related resources
Call us
Want to clear your record in Arizona? Call Future First Criminal Law at 602-900-7625 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.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Life’s better with a clean record