Part 3 Drafting Your Petition and Supporting Documents
Once you have gathered your documents in support of your Petition, you are prepared to begin drafting the Petition to Seal Records that you will eventually file with the Court. At this stage, you should already have requested and received your records, including your SCOPE, your Criminal History Report, and any other supporting documents you may have requested. With these supporting documents, you can proceed to the next steps, which we have outlined below: Step 1. Locate and Identify the Documents you will need to file:
Step 1. What you will need:
• Petition to Seal Records: This is the official document you file with the Court to request that your records be sealed.
• Proposed Order to Seal Records: This is the proposed Order that a Judge must sign, in order to successfully seal your records
• Declaration from Petitioner: A signed and sworn Declaration must be attached to your Petition, indicating that you have read its contents, and that they are true to your knowledge.
• Notice of Entry of Order: This is the official notice to the public that a Judge has signed your Order.
• Certificate of Mailing: This is a filed document used to mail out the notice of entry of Order upon successful completion.
Step 2. Drafting your Petition and documents:
What is it: Your petition is the legal document that you will seek to provide
to the prosecutor, and ultimately file with the court, to request that your
records be sealed. Additionally, the Proposed Order is what the Judge would
sign towards the end of this process.
How: If you have Microsoft Word, you can use the pleading paper template
to create your draft, but we will also attach templates below that you can
use to type the Petition up.
We have attached templates for the above-listed documents to the end of
this post that you may use as a guide if you are attempting to seal your
records by yourself.
What you will need:
List of charges:
Using the information from your SCOPE and CHR, you must write out a full list of charges, separating each by count and ordered by the most recent first. (Please note that if you have charges in multiple jurisdictions, that you may choose to either file multiple petitions, or a single Petition in District Court covering all the local Justice Court charges depending on your circumstances)
1. Fill Out the remaining documents
Once you have created the list(s) of charges you will use that information to fill out the following forms.
A – Petition to Seal Records
B – Order to Seal Records
C – Declaration from Petitioner
D – Notice of Entry of Order
E – Certificate of Mailing2.Notes for Forms
• Make sure to sign your Petition, Order, and Declaration in the spots noted in Blue ink, and make 2 copies of each of these, as well as any other supporting documents. (please note that you may have to redact your social security number from your CHR).
Step 3. Preparing your forms for the District Attorney
• How: At this point, you must take all the forms and their copies together in a single envelope to the District Attorney for any charges that were prosecuted by the State of Nevada, with return postage paid.
• Why: Sending in these forms allows for the possibility that your matter will be stipulated to, pursuant to NRS 179.245 (4). If done correctly, this will allow you to submit your packet to the Judge for his or her signature, without a contested hearing where the State would argue against you. This both helps ensure a successful record seal for you, and also can drastically reduce the time this process takes to complete.
Step 4. Preparing and Mailing the packet
The following only applies for charges in Justice Court, to be submitted to the District Attorney.
– What is it: Your complete packet, including the original and two copies of the Petition, and the Proposed Order. Send in the two copies of the CHR and your supporting documents, but make sure to keep your original of the CHR, and any supporting documents in your possession.
– How: If you have Microsoft Word, you can use the pleading paper template to create your draft, but we will also attach templates below that you can use to type up the documents you will need along with your records.
• Also, make sure to purchase two 10×14 envelopes along with prepaid return postage (approx. 4-5 stamps so they can mail it back to you) and use your address as the return address for the unsealed envelope you will send with your packet.
• Address the entire packet to the District Attorney, at the following address:
District Attorney Reception Window
Regional Justice Center 3rd Floor
200 Lewis Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89155
Step 5. Waiting for the District Attorney’s Response
• What’s Next: The district attorney will either approve your record sealing by signing the forms or deny them and not sign. This process can take up to twelve (12) weeks. If they approve you, you are ready for the next step.
• What if the District Attorney denies your request:
If the district attorney opposes your paperwork, they will send a letter explaining the specific grounds for which they denied you.
– Option 1: If the changes are minor, such as typos, or regarding missing documents, you have the option to make the changes and resubmit your packet following the same procedure above. Make sure to include the letter from the District Attorney.
– Option 2: At this point, you may choose to file the packet in Court over the District Attorney’s objection. In the next post, we will cover what to do once you receive your approved petition back from the District Attorney to complete the process of sealing your records. As always, remember that the steps above are for general purposes only and that there are various other rules that govern record sealing, which may be pertinent to your case. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at any time for a free consultation with a licensed Nevada attorney.
Please contact ZT Law Group today for a free consultation about your record sealing rights in Nevada. 702-359-0157