Is an undesignated felony a felony in Arizona?

If you pleaded to or were convicted of an “undesignated” offense, you are probably staring at your paperwork trying to answer one question: am I a felon now, or not? It is a fair question, because an undesignated class 6 felony sits in a genuinely in-between place under Arizona law. This guide explains what an undesignated, or “open,” offense actually is under A.R.S. 13-604, how it is treated while it stays open, the disclosure and gun-rights realities you need to get right, and how these convictions get turned into a misdemeanor. If you want the deeper procedural walkthrough of that last step, our page on how to reduce a class 6 felony in Arizona covers it in detail.

Yes, for the purposes that matter most, an undesignated offense is treated as a felony until a judge actually designates it a misdemeanor. This is the part people get wrong. The word “undesignated” makes it sound like the charge is neither here nor there, but Arizona law is specific: while the offense is open, A.R.S. 13-604 lists a set of purposes for which it still counts as a felony conviction. Those include your right to possess a firearm, its use as a historical prior felony, and its use to enhance a future sentence.

At the same time, the statute says an undesignated offense “shall be treated as a misdemeanor for all purposes” other than those specifically listed. So the accurate answer is not a clean yes or no. It is a felony for the enumerated purposes, most importantly your gun rights and your criminal history, and a misdemeanor for everything the statute does not carve out. Practically, that means until a court signs an order designating it a misdemeanor, you should treat it as a felony for anything involving firearms or a background disclosure. Once it is designated a misdemeanor, it is a misdemeanor going forward.

What is a class 6 undesignated felony under A.R.S. 13-604?

A class 6 felony is the lowest felony class Arizona has. What makes one “undesignated” is a specific power the statute gives the judge. Under A.R.S. 13-604, when a person is convicted of a class 6 felony that does not involve a dangerous offense, and the court decides it would be “unduly harsh to sentence the defendant for a felony,” the judge has two softer options. The court can enter the conviction as a class 1 misdemeanor outright, or it can place the person on probation and “refrain from designating the offense as a felony or misdemeanor until the probation is terminated.”

That second option is the undesignated, or open, offense. The judge holds the label. You are convicted, you are on probation, but the felony-or-misdemeanor question is left unanswered on purpose, to be decided at the end based on how you do. This is why you will also hear it called a “class 6 open” or “class 6 undetermined” offense. Two limits are worth knowing: it is not available for dangerous offenses, and A.R.S. 13-604 says it does not apply to a person who already has two or more prior felony convictions.

So no, not every class 6 felony is undesignated. Most class 6 convictions are simply felonies. Undesignation is a discretionary sentencing outcome, usually the product of negotiation, that the judge chooses to leave the door open for a better result later.

How undesignated offenses happen in plea deals

In Arizona courts, undesignated dispositions most often arrive through a plea agreement on a class 6 charge. A prosecutor may agree that the offense will be left open, or a defense attorney will argue at sentencing that the judge should decline to designate it a felony given the nature of the offense and the person’s background. Because A.R.S. 13-604 hands the timing decision to the judge, this is a negotiated and argued outcome, not something that happens automatically.

Defense attorneys commonly see this on lower-level, non-dangerous class 6 charges where a client has a limited record and a real shot at completing probation cleanly. The strategic value is straightforward: an open offense gives you a defined path to walk out the other side with a misdemeanor instead of a lifelong felony. Getting there, though, depends on doing probation right, which is why the terms of that probation matter as much as the plea itself.

Undesignated vs designated felony vs designated misdemeanor

Because the same charge can end up in three very different places, it helps to see them side by side. The table below compares an open offense with the two ways it can eventually be designated. Note that the middle column, a designated felony, is where an undesignated offense lands if probation is revoked or the court declines to reduce it.

Do I have to disclose it as a felony?

This is the question that keeps people up at night, and the honest answer is that it depends on your designation status and on the specific form in front of you. There is no single rule that fits every job application, license, or lease, so treat what follows as the framework, not a green light to answer any particular question a certain way.

While the offense is undesignated, it is a felony conviction for the purposes A.R.S. 13-604 enumerates, and it appears on your record as a class 6 felony disposition. That means for most background disclosures it should be treated as a felony conviction until a court designates it a misdemeanor. On a job or licensing application that asks whether you have ever been convicted of a felony, an undesignated class 6 generally has to be disclosed, and lying on the form can be worse than the underlying conviction. Once the offense is designated a misdemeanor, it is a misdemeanor from that point forward, and you can answer accordingly.

Firearm purchase forms are their own category. The federal ATF Form 4473 that you complete when buying a gun asks about felony convictions and about whether you are a prohibited possessor. Because A.R.S. 13-604 expressly counts an undesignated offense against your firearm rights, buying or possessing a firearm while the offense is open is not lawful, and you should not certify otherwise on a 4473. As for voting, an undesignated offense is treated as a misdemeanor for purposes the statute does not carve out, and civil-rights suspension is not on its enumerated felony list, so your voting status may differ from your firearm status. Given how form-specific and fact-specific this is, confirm the exact wording of any form with an attorney before you sign it.

Can I own a gun while it is undesignated?

No. A.R.S. 13-604 specifically lists “determining the defendant’s right to possess a firearm” as one of the purposes for which an undesignated offense is treated as a felony conviction. In plain terms, while your class 6 is open, you are a prohibited possessor under Arizona law, and that prohibition also carries federal weight. This is the single most common and most costly misunderstanding we see, because a person assumes an undesignated offense is basically a misdemeanor and keeps or buys a firearm, which can lead to a brand-new felony charge.

The good news is that this is one of the biggest reasons to see the offense through to a misdemeanor designation. Once the court designates it a misdemeanor, it is no longer a felony conviction that prohibits firearm possession on that basis. If your offense has already been designated a felony, or you have another conviction in the mix, restoring gun rights is a separate legal process. Our overview of how to restore gun rights in Arizona explains the options, and our page on restoring civil rights in Arizona covers the broader rights picture.

How it shows on a background check or rental application

While it stays undesignated, a class 6 open offense typically shows up on a background check as exactly what it is on the court record: a class 6 felony disposition. Employers, landlords, and licensing boards pull court and state records, and until a judge enters the misdemeanor designation, those records reflect the felony class. That is why an undesignated felony can affect a rental application the same way a felony would, at least until it is reduced. A landlord running a screening report is not parsing the fine print of A.R.S. 13-604; they are reading the disposition.

After the offense is designated a misdemeanor, the classification updates and it reads as a misdemeanor going forward. If you want to go further and limit how the record appears at all, Arizona offers post-conviction relief. Having a judgment of guilt set aside in Arizona under A.R.S. 13-905 adds a notation that the conviction was set aside and can come with a certificate of second chance, which helps with the very employment and housing questions people worry about. These are separate steps from designation, and which ones fit depends on your record.

How to get it designated a misdemeanor

Here is the part most people are actually hoping for. Under A.R.S. 13-604(C), the court “shall designate an undesignated offense as a misdemeanor on the defendant’s successful fulfillment of the conditions of probation and discharge by the court.” In other words, the path is to complete your probation successfully, satisfy your conditions including any restitution, and get discharged. It is not purely automatic paperwork that files itself, though. In practice you or your attorney typically bring the request to the court so a judge actually enters the order designating the offense a misdemeanor.

Timing and details matter. If you owe victim restitution or have willfully failed to pay a monetary obligation, the statute treats that differently, and a probation violation can send the offense the other direction, toward a designated felony. Because the reduction is the whole point of accepting an open offense, it is worth handling deliberately rather than assuming it happens on its own. Our team walks clients through the designation request and the related relief. Start with our page on reducing a class 6 felony in Arizona, and if you want a broader review of your options, our Arizona criminal defense team can map out designation, set aside, and rights restoration together.