The client carried two Class 4 Felony Forgery convictions out of Maricopa County Superior Court on a case that dated back to 1997. Future First filed the Application to Set Aside under ARS § 13-905 and the court granted the application in 92 days, vacating both decades-old felony convictions and restoring firearm rights in the same order.
At a glance
| Original conviction | Forgery X2 (ARS § 13-2002), Class 4 Felony |
| Application filed | Application to Set Aside, ARS § 13-905, 2024 |
| Court | Maricopa County Superior Court |
| Result | Set Aside Granted. Both forgery convictions vacated, judgment of guilt dismissed, all civil disabilities lifted. |
| Rights restored | Firearm rights restored in the same order under ARS § 13-905(D). |
| Time from application to grant | 92 days from application filing to granted |
The challenge
Two Class 4 Felony Forgery convictions from a 1997 case were still active on the client’s record nearly three decades later. Time does not erase Arizona felonies on its own. The convictions kept showing up on background screens, financial paperwork, and every form the client filled out asking about felony history.
Forgery under ARS § 13-2002 is a financial felony. Two counts compounds the background-check problem. The client had served the sentence, paid every monetary term, and lived clean for the years since. The active conviction record was the only remaining barrier.
What we did
Future First filed the Application to Set Aside under ARS § 13-905 in Maricopa County Superior Court. The application covered both Class 4 Felony Forgery counts. The package documented full sentence completion, absolute discharge, the multi-decade clean record since the conviction, and the statutory factors the court weighs under § 13-905(A). The firearm rights restoration request under § 13-905(D) was built into the same filing.
Decades-old cases require pulling together an older court file and showing the court the complete sentence-completion record. Future First built the application around the documented compliance and the statutory framework. The 92-day grant reflects how Maricopa moves clean applications on older cases when the record is properly assembled.
The judge signed the order. Set aside granted on both forgery counts. Firearm rights restored. The convictions are vacated, the judgment of guilt on each count is dismissed, and the civil disabilities lift in full.
What our clients say
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If you have an old Arizona felony conviction
ARS § 13-905 has no statute of limitations on the back end. A felony conviction from 1997, 1987, or earlier remains eligible for set aside once the statutory criteria are met. Sentence completion, financial compliance, and the statutory factors govern the outcome, not how old the case is.
Older cases sit in archive systems. The original sentencing minute entries are sometimes harder to retrieve. Probation records may live in a different storage path. The application work is the same. Build the documented record, lay out the statutory factors, file in the court of conviction.
Set aside opens the door to sealing under ARS § 13-911. The sealing wait for most Class 4 Felony cases is five years from judge-ordered non-financial completion. On decades-old cases that wait has already run, which means sealing can follow the set aside quickly.
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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