Are You Able to Set Aside a Judgment in the State of Arizona?

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Acacia Law: Yes, it most certainly is. In fact, a number of crimes that you might not even think you have a prayer of getting some sort of restoration of your civil rights on, you can in fact have it done. There is a process for doing it. It's a procedure that we utilize and have helped hundreds of clients that basically had either employment or academic or personal lives severely impacted by a felony or misdemeanor conviction.

For example, one area that we have a number of problems with and where people come to seek my help is that currently in Arizona, there are certain fingerprint security clearance requirements, even for public teachers. If they have one small thing on their record, it can preclude them from obtaining the clearance cards that they need to continue work.

I have had teachers who, as a teenager on a lark, may have used somebody else's credit card, pled to the crime and then 10 years later, now that they've instituted this law about increasing security, suddenly find themselves in the position of being tenured teachers in risk of losing their job. This would be on account of the fact that they can't be licensed for clearance given the fact that they have these convictions.

There are a number of different avenues of approach that can be taken in order to basically either resolve the problem altogether or remedy the concerns that the client has to the extent that this will either no longer impact on their life. Or, ideally, will impact it in such a smaller degree that it becomes minimal and no longer an albatross around their neck.

Interviewer: What's the process called in Arizona? Is it a sealment or expungement or what do you call this process of getting your civil rights back and cleaning up your record?