Law Office Of D. M. Godley, Esq. PLLC.
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Law Office Of D. M. Godley, Esq. PLLC.
Call For A Free Consultation.
Monday to Saturday.
8am - 8pm.
Let me be straight with you. Having a criminal record hanging over your head, even an old one, even something minor can quietly wreck a lot of things. You apply for a job and never hear back. You find a place you want to rent. The landlord stops returning your calls. Your kid’s school needs a background check for volunteers you don’t go with. It wears on people. I’ve seen it.
What most folks in Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ don’t realize is that Arizona actually gave people a real path out of this. Since 2023, there’s a proper law on the books, not just a workaround, that lets qualifying people expunge criminal record entries and get them sealed from public view. Not for everyone, not for every charge. But for a lot more people than you’d think.
Attorney Davina Godley has been doing criminal defense work in Arizona for over 13 years. She built the Law Office of D.M. Godley, Esq. specifically to give regular people, not just people with money, access to real legal representation. She works directly with clients. One-on-one!
When people say they want to expunge criminal record entries, what they usually mean is they want those old charges gone, so they stop showing up on background checks. In Arizona, the technical term is “record sealing.” The records don’t get destroyed. Courts still have them. But for most everyday purposes — jobs, rentals, professional licenses — it’s like the offense never happened.
Before 2023, Arizona was actually pretty stingy about this. The best most people could get was a “set aside”, the court basically stamps your case closed and says you completed your sentence. Better than nothing, but employers could still see original conviction. The new law changed that. Now there’s a real sealing process that wipes it from the public record.
People across Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ are just starting to figure out that this option exists. A lot of them have been carrying around a record for years. Many of them have been carrying a record for at least a few years. They believed that there was nothing that they could do. To some of them, there is at last something they can do.
Here’s where it gets specific. The expungement of criminal record process has real rules, and the court won’t bend them for you. If you don’t check all the boxes, your petition gets denied. Simple as that. So let’s go through what actually matters.
First thing, you’ve got to be done with your sentence. All of it. Probation finished, fines paid, community service hours logged. If there’s anything still outstanding, the court won’t even look at your application. Come back when it’s all wrapped up.
Second, there is a waiting period depending on what you were convicted of. Marijuana crimes that were legalized by state law? You can apply right away. Class 6 felonies are required to wait 3 years after being no longer imprisoned. The felony of Class 4 and 5 takes 5 years. Class 2 and 3 felonies — 7 years. Misdemeanors lie between 2 and 3 years based on the category.
Third and this is where people get disappointed sometimes — some offenses just aren’t eligible, no matter how long you wait. Dangerous crimes. Crimes involving children. Sex offenses that require lifetime registry. Those are off the table under the current law. That doesn’t mean you have zero options, but record sealing specifically isn’t available for those.
The truth is that a lot of people in Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ assume they don’t qualify when they actually might. The eligibility rules have enough wrinkles that it’s worth talking to a lawyer before you write yourself off. You might be surprised.
Going through the expungement of a criminal record process is not quick. It is not something you bang in an hour. It is a lot easier. When you are aware of the steps to follow. Here’s how it plays out:
You need to know exactly what’s on your record before you do anything else. Request it from the Arizona Department of Public Safety. People are often caught off guard, stuff they forgot about, charges they thought were dismissed, cases from a different county. Get the full picture first. You can’t make a plan without it.
Go through each entry on your record and check it against the waiting period rules. Has enough time passed? Is the offense in one of the excluded categories? If you’ve got multiple charges, which many people do, this review gets complicated fast. An attorney handling expungement of criminal record cases in Phoenix, AZ can do this review for you and tell you straight up what you can and can’t apply for.
The petition goes to the court where your original case was handled. Not just any court — the specific one. The paperwork has to be complete and accurate. Wrong case number, missing info, wrong court — any of those can get it kicked back before a judge even sees it. This is genuinely one of the most common ways self-represented applicants lose time.
After filing, you have to formally notify the prosecutor’s office that handled your case. They get a window to review your petition and object if they think you shouldn’t qualify. In Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ, the service requirements are specific. Mess this step up, and the whole thing stalls.
Most cases involve a court hearing. A judge reviews what you filed, looks at your record, considers your behavior since the offense, and decides whether sealing your record is in the interest of justice, that’s the legal standard. You might need to speak. You might need to respond to questions. Being prepared for that moment matters.
If the judge approves it, the court sends orders to the relevant agencies to seal the record. That process takes a few weeks to work through the system. Once it’s done, the record stops showing on standard background checks. And you can start living without that weight following you everywhere.
Denials happen more than they should. Most of the time, it’s not because the person didn’t qualify; it’s because the application was filed incorrectly or at the wrong time.
Filing too early is the single most common mistake. Courts won’t make an exception for the waiting period. If you’re even one day short, it’s automatically rejected. You have to count carefully and wait it out.
New charges after the original offense are another big problem. Could be something relatively minor — even certain traffic violations. But judges in Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ want to see that the conviction was an exception, not a pattern. New trouble on your record undercuts that argument.
Then there’s the paperwork itself. Wrong information. Forms that aren’t signed. Wrong court. Missing supporting documents. And when the prosecution objects which does happen — unrepresented people usually don’t know how to respond in a way that actually addresses the legal standard. They freeze, or they say the wrong thing, and the judge sides with the prosecution. That’s a hard way to find out you needed help.
You can file on your own. That’s true. But the value of having an attorney handle this isn’t just about knowing the law — it’s about not making the avoidable mistakes that cost people months or get their petition denied entirely.
The first thing Davina does is an honest eligibility review. Before you spend any money or time on filing, you should find out what’s actually possible for your specific record. Not a guess. A real answer. People in Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ come to godleylawaz.com and get that kind of clarity upfront — it changes everything about how they approach the process.
She handles the paperwork. Everything filed correctly, in the right court, with the right information. Served to the right people the right way. Clean petitions move faster and get taken more seriously.
At the hearing, she speaks for you. She knows how to address prosecution objections. She knows how to frame your story — your actual life since the offense — in a way that connects with a judge. That’s not something you can fake or wing. It comes from experience in those courtrooms specifically.
Davina also handles criminal defense broadly, so she sees the full picture of someone’s record and can advise on the best path even when sealing isn’t available. Sometimes a combination of options — set aside plus sealing for different charges — is what actually gets results.
When a record gets sealed, the change people feel is usually immediate, even before they see any practical result. There’s just something about knowing it’s gone. That it won’t come up anymore. That you can apply for something without dreading the background check.
On the practical side, most private employers using standard background check services won’t see the sealed offense. Landlords running typical tenant screening reports won’t see it. The sealed record is being viewed as a case that never occurred by many state licensing boards, and this creates career opportunities in areas such as healthcare, real estate, and finance that had been previously closed.
For people in Mesa, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ, and Phoenix, AZ who’ve been stuck in low-wage jobs or denied housing over and over because of something that happened years ago, this is real, meaningful change. Not just on paper.
To be fair about it, a sealed record isn’t completely invisible. Law enforcement agencies can still see it. Federal jobs with security clearances may still surface it. And if you’re charged with something new, the court can access your full history. But for the day-to-day stuff — jobs, apartments, licenses — the expungement of a criminal record makes a difference that people actually feel.
Not under the sealing law, no. DUI convictions aren’t currently eligible for record sealing in Arizona. What is possible is a set aside — the court vacates the judgment after you’ve completed your sentence. It doesn’t remove the record, but it does look better on background checks and tells employers you followed through. Davina handles DUI cases across Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ and can tell you what makes sense for your situation.
In reality, 3-6 months of your filing. Rapid at times, and lengthy at times. Based on the case schedule of the court and the objection of the prosecution. Having an attorney who stays on top of it, follows up with the court, responds to any issues quickly, does help move things along.
Each county requires a different petition. Hence, two cases in two courts, you are filing two cases, two sets of papers, and two sets of management to undertake at once. It’s doable with a lawyer who knows the courts across Maricopa County — including those covering Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ and a real headache to try to do solo.
There is likely a reason why you have gotten this far. It is possible that you were contemplating this and you simply did not know how to begin. Perhaps someone had told you it could not be, and you now have to think whether he/she was right. Either way, you’re allowed to find out.
People in Phoenix, AZ, Mesa, AZ, and Scottsdale, AZ who’ve worked through the expungement of criminal record process with Davina’s help talk about it like a weight they didn’t realize they were carrying until it was gone. That’s not marketing talk. That’s what actually happens when someone’s record gets sealed. And they finally stop bracing for the worst every time they apply for something.
Davina offers flat fees and payment plans. She works Monday through Saturday, 8 am to 8 pm. And she gives free consultations, so you find out where you stand before you spend a dime.
Call the Law Office of D.M. Godley, Esq. at (602) 697-6393. Or come to godleylawaz.com and find out more, and make an appointment to meet. Your past doesn’t have to follow you forever.
