Record Sealing & Set-asides

A set-aside is available once you have fulfilled the conditions of probation or sentence and been discharged by the court. There is no waiting period beyond that discharge, and there is no filing fee.

If the court grants it, the judgment of guilt is set aside, the complaint, information, or indictment is dismissed, and you are released from the penalties and disabilities that flowed from the conviction. Three carve-outs survive: penalties imposed by the Arizona Department of Transportation, penalties imposed by the Game and Fish Commission, and any lifetime injunction.

The four exclusions

A.R.S. § 13-905(P) lists exactly four categories of conviction that cannot be set aside:

1. a dangerous offense;
2. an offense requiring sex offender registration under § 13-3821;
3. an offense with a finding of sexual motivation under § 13-118; and
4. a felony in which the victim was a minor under fifteen.

An important correction. Driving on a suspended license and other Title 28 traffic offenses used to be a fifth exclusion. They were removed in 2021 by SB 1249 (Laws 2021, Ch. 209). Arizona attorney pages still saying traffic offenses cannot be set aside are working from a version of the statute that has been dead for years. And DUI was never on the exclusion list at all: a DUI conviction has always been set-aside eligible.

One more note for anyone researching this on their own: the subsection letter has moved. What is now § 13-905(P) was (N) in 2021 and (K) in 2020. A citation to “§ 13-905(K)” in older material points to a different provision than today’s (K).

Firearm rights

A.R.S. § 13-905(O) provides that a set-aside restores the right to possess a firearm, except for a person convicted of a “serious offense” as that term is defined in § 13-706.

That is the Arizona answer. Whether a state set-aside also resolves a federal firearm prohibition is a genuinely unsettled question, and it is one where a confident-sounding answer from a website can get someone charged with a federal felony. If firearm rights are the reason you are pursuing relief, do not act on general information: get advice specific to your conviction before you touch a firearm.

Certificate of Second Chance

When a set-aside is granted, the court issues a Certificate of Second Chance automatically in these situations:

• the conviction was a misdemeanor;
• the conviction was a class 4, 5, or 6 felony and two years have passed since discharge; or
• the conviction was a class 2 or 3 felony and five years have passed since discharge.

The certificate is the part of Arizona’s record relief scheme that does the most practical work and gets the least attention. It lifts statutory barriers to occupational licensing under Title 32, the licenses that let people work in trades, health care, real estate, cosmetology, and dozens of other fields, and it gives employers and housing providers protection from negligent-hiring and negligent-leasing liability under A.R.S. § 12-558.03. That second piece matters more than it sounds: it removes the liability worry that causes a lot of quiet rejections.

A certificate is available only once for a felony set-aside.

Restoration of civil rights: A.R.S. § 13-907

Separate from a set-aside, a first-time felony offender’s civil rights are restored automatically on completion of probation or absolute discharge, provided all victim restitution has been paid. No application is required. For a person with a prior felony or unpaid restitution, restoration is discretionary on application under A.R.S. § 13-908. Firearm rights after a serious offense may be sought under A.R.S. § 13-910 after ten years, and cannot be restored after a dangerous offense.

Proposition 207 created Arizona’s only true expungement, and it applies only to marijuana conduct that is now legal. Petitions have been available since July 12, 2021. Three categories qualify, and the list is exhaustive:

• possessing, consuming, or transporting 2.5 ounces or less of marijuana, of which no more than 12.5 grams was concentrate;
• possessing, transporting, cultivating, or processing six or fewer marijuana plants at a primary residence for personal use; and
• possessing, using, or transporting marijuana paraphernalia.

Three features make this remedy unusually favorable:

• The burden is on the State. The court must grant the petition unless the prosecution proves ineligibility by clear and convincing evidence. That is the reverse of how nearly every other petition works.
• There is no filing fee. The court may not charge one.
• The prosecutor has 30 days to respond. Note that at least one Maricopa County court page has published 45 days; the statutory figure is 30.

On a granted petition, the court sets aside the judgment of guilt, expunges the records, and restores civil rights including firearm possession.

There is a nuance worth knowing if the old charge alleged intent to sell. Arizona appellate decisions have addressed situations where possession or transport of an eligible quantity may still qualify even though a sale allegation was made. A conviction for sale, however, is not eligible at any amount. This is a place where the specific charging language on the old case controls the answer.

One caution that matters enormously and is almost never stated: if you are not a U.S. citizen, do not assume a Prop 207 expungement solves an immigration problem. Whether a vacatur under § 36-2862 removes a conviction for federal immigration purposes is unresolved, and the consequences of guessing wrong include removal. Talk to an immigration attorney before relying on it.

Petitions are filed in the court where the conviction was entered. The Maricopa County Superior Court publishes a self-service packet for sealing (form set CRSR1) and separate forms for set-asides and Prop 207 expungement.

The petition is not a form-filling exercise, even though it looks like one. What a judge is weighing is whether granting relief is in the interests of justice, and the petitions that succeed are the ones that actually make that case: what has changed, what the person has done since, what the relief is for, and why the public loses nothing by granting it. A bare petition with the boxes checked and nothing else is the most common reason a good candidate gets denied.

A denied sealing petition cannot be re-filed for three years under § 13-911(L). That is the strongest argument for getting the first one right.