The client carried a Class 3 Felony Burglary in the Second Degree conviction out of Maricopa County Superior Court that dated back to 1996. Future First filed the Application to Seal Records under ARS § 13-911 and the court granted the application in 340 days, sealing the decades-old felony from public view and from background-check exposure.
At a glance
| Original conviction | Burglary in the Second Degree (ARS § 13-1507), Class 3 Felony |
| Application filed | Application to Seal Records, ARS § 13-911, 2024 |
| Court | Maricopa County Superior Court |
| Result | Sealing Record Granted. Conviction sealed from public view and from background-check exposure. |
| Rights restored | The applicant can lawfully deny the case in most non-law-enforcement contexts. Background checks that consume the sealed-records database no longer return the case. |
| Time from application to grant | 340 days from application filing to granted |
The challenge
A Class 3 Felony Burglary 2nd Degree conviction from a 1996 case had been on the client’s record for nearly three decades. Even with the years of clean living, the active conviction record kept surfacing on background checks. Burglary convictions trigger automatic flags on housing and employment screens. The class level pushes the response higher.
Sealing under ARS § 13-911 was the cleanup tool. The statutory wait for a Class 3 Felony is eight years from judge-ordered non-financial completion. On a decades-old case, the wait was satisfied many times over. The work was in pulling together the archived court file and building the application.
What we did
Future First filed the Application to Seal Records under ARS § 13-911 in Maricopa County Superior Court. The application reconstructed the 1996 case file from archive storage, documented the wait period from judge-ordered non-financial completion, the multi-decade clean record since the conviction, full monetary compliance, and the factors the court weighs under § 13-911.
Old Maricopa cases sit in archive court systems and require additional retrieval steps. The 340-day grant cycle reflects the work to pull the 1996 file, route the application through the assigned criminal division, and confirm the completion record on a conviction from before the modern electronic docket era. The application held up at every step.
The judge signed the order. Sealing Record Granted on the Class 3 Felony Burglary 2nd Degree. The case file is sealed from public view. Background checks that consume the sealed-records database no longer return the case. The applicant can lawfully deny the conviction in most non-law-enforcement contexts.
What our clients say
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If you have a decades-old Arizona felony
Time alone does not seal an Arizona conviction. The case stays open on background checks until an order under ARS § 13-911 closes it. A conviction from 1996, 1986, or earlier remains visible on the underlying database. The applicant has to file and the court has to enter the sealing order.
The advantage on older cases is the wait period. ARS § 13-911 sets a five-year wait for most Class 4 Felony cases, an eight-year wait for Class 3 Felony cases, and longer waits for higher-class felonies. Decades-old cases have already cleared every wait period in the statute. The application is ready on day one.
The work on old cases is the document retrieval. The 1996-era Maricopa file lives in archive storage. The application has to surface the full sentencing record, the completion data, and the court’s underlying minute entries. Once that record is built, the application moves on the strength of the documentation.
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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