questions & answers

Question: A Felony 6 Non-designated was designated as a Misdemeanor 1. I was told by the court that my rights were altered during the time period it was an Undesignated felony 6 (voting and gun rights). The charge in the case has now been "Vacated and Dismissed". Have all of my rights been restored or do I need to process and other documentation?

Answer:

The following is from an article here on AZLAWHELP.org regarding restoring rights:

A person might be able to have civil rights restored if that person has an absolute discharge from probation or if it has been at least two years since that person’s absolute discharge from prison. While the restoration of civil rights may be available to felony offenders convicted in a County Superior Court in Arizona or in federal court, Arizona Courts do not have the authority to set aside convictions or restore guns rights to persons convicted in federal court. Will a person’s gun rights be restored as part of restoring civil rights? Whether a person’s gun rights are restored may depend upon the date of conviction, any court-ordered terms and that person’s criminal and social history record. The laws may be different now from the laws in place when a person was convicted. Therefore, look at the laws from the time of conviction. If the law is different now, then find out which laws apply to an individual case. Requests to restore civil rights and restore gun rights are separate orders, but the requests can be submitted to the Court at same time as the request to set aside the conviction.

 How does a person apply to have a conviction set aside, civil rights restored and gun rights restored? To restore these rights, a person would file a request with the Superior Court in the county where the conviction occurred. For a federal conviction, a person would submit an application to the Superior Court in the county where that person lives.

Instructions for setting aside a conviction, restoring civil rights, and restoring gun rights can be found at the following websites:

•Coconino County: http://www.coconino.az.gov/lawlibrary.aspx?id=19434

•Maricopa County: http://clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/eformsondemand/300.pdf  If the county in which the person was convicted does not have these forms online, contact the Clerk’s Office in the county where the conviction occurred to see which forms could be used. Contact information for County Superior Court Clerks can be found at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/.

Remember that the instructions and the legal forms may use the “set-aside” language used in the statutes or it may use the words “vacate the judgment of guilt.” The words in the statute, “set aside judgment,” have the same meaning as the words used in the instructions and on the form “vacate judgment of guilt and dismiss charges”.