A criminal conviction can leave you with a criminal record whose stigma can make it challenging to pursue housing or employment opportunities after completing your sentence. Fortunately, Michigan’s Clean Slate Law allows individuals to expunge their criminal records for many kinds of convictions.
What Is Expungement?
An expungement in Michigan removes a person’s criminal conviction from the public record, so prospective employers and other parties who run background checks will not see the record of an expunged conviction. However, an expunged conviction remains accessible in a non-public record to law enforcement, corrections, and specific other government departments. Michigan’s “Clean Slate Law” updated the state’s expungement process, including establishing automatic expungement for certain crimes.
Crimes You Can Expunge in Big Rapids
Michigan law allows individuals to expunge certain criminal offenses. For example, a person may petition for expungement for misdemeanor or local ordinance marijuana offenses that would not have constituted a crime after the legalization of recreational-use marijuana in Michigan. Individuals can also expunge most types of misdemeanor offenses. Individuals can also petition to expunge up to three felony offenses, except that they may not seek to expunge more than two “assaultive crime” convictions during their lifetime or more than one felony for the same offense if punishable by more than 10 years in prison.
What Crimes Are Ineligible for Expungement?
Examples of crimes ineligible for expungement in Michigan include:
- Any offense punishable by life imprisonment
- Assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct
- Criminal sexual conduct
- Child pornography offenses
- Felony domestic violence (after a prior misdemeanor domestic violence conviction)
- Human trafficking offenses
- DWI/OWI (except for a first-time OWI that did not result in injury or death)
- Traffic offenses resulting in injury or death
- Commercial driver’s license violations
- Terrorism-related offenses
- Child abuse
Waiting Periods and Eligibility Requirements for Expungement
Individuals seeking to petition to expunge qualifying convictions must observe various waiting periods, depending on the grading of the conviction and the number of convictions. These waiting periods include:
- More Than One Felony Conviction – Seven years from the latest of the date of sentencing, completion of probation, discharge from parole, or completion of any term of imprisonment
- One or More Serious Misdemeanor Convictions – Five years from the latest of the date of sentencing, completion of probation, discharge from parole, or completion of any term of imprisonment
- One or More Misdemeanor Convictions – Three years from the latest of the date of sentencing, completion of probation, or completion of any term of imprisonment
Offenses That Are Eligible for Automatic Expungement
Under Michigan’s Clean Slate Law, the Michigan State Police must expunge various qualifying criminal convictions after a specific waiting period. A convicted individual does not need to petition the MSP or the court to obtain this expungement. A person may qualify for automatic expungement if they do not have an active or pending criminal case and the subject offense(s) do not involve one of the following crimes:
- An assaultive crime
- A serious misdemeanor
- A crime of dishonesty
- Any offense punishable by 10 or more years in prison
- Any offense involving a minor or vulnerable adult victim, injury or severe impairment, or death
- Any human trafficking offense
- OWI
- A commercial driver’s license violation
- Any traffic offense resulting in injury or death
For misdemeanor offenses, an individual must wait seven years from the date of sentencing before an automatic expungement can occur. Furthermore, the law caps automatic expungement for misdemeanors punishable by 93 or more days of imprisonment to four offenses. A person must wait 10 years from the later of the date of sentencing or the completion of any term of imprisonment to obtain automatic expungement of felonies, and cannot expunge more than two such felonies.
Contact an Expungement Lawyer Today for Assistance
If you’ve been convicted of a crime in Big Rapids, Michigan, you may have the right to pursue relief from the stigma of a criminal record. Contact Erin Carrier Law, PLLC, today for a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney from our law firm to learn more about what crimes you can expunge in Big Rapids.
