Expungement  Process 

KEY POINTS FROM MICHIGAN’S UNIQUE CLEAN SLATE LEGISLATION

Under Michigan’s Clean Slate legislation, the following offenses cannot be
expunged either by application or automatically:

 

•  Alcohol or Drug-Related Driving Offenses, including Operating While Intoxicated and Operating While Visibly Impaired (Impaired Driving) convictions

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•  Life Offenses or an Attempt to Commit a Life Offens

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•  Any traffic offenses committed by a person with a commercial vehicle endorsement

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•  Any traffic offense that causes injury or death

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•  A felony conviction for domestic violence, if the person has a previous misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence

 

• Convictions for violations or attempted violations of MCL 750.136b(3) (Child Abuse), MCL 750.136d(1)(b) or (c) (Child Abuse in the presence of another child), MCL 750.145c (Child Sexually Abusive Material or Activity), MCL 750.145d (Use of Computer/Internet related to minors), MCL 750.520c (CSC 2 ndDegree), MCL 750.520d (CSC 3 rd Degree), or MCL 750.520g (Assault with Intent o Commit CSC)

 

 

AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT PROCESS

Michigan’s Clean Slate legislation mandates that the following offenses will begin to be
automatically set aside beginning about October 12, 2022:

 

 Misdemeanors that are punishable by less than 93 days if 7 years have passed since the imposition of the sentenc.

Misdemeanors that are punishable by 93 days or more if 7 years have passed

since the imposition of the sentence so long as:

o There are no pending criminal charges against the individual;

o The individual has not been convicted of any crime within 10 years

 

following the completion of the sentence for the felony conviction that
would be expunged;

o The individual has not more than 2 felony convictions and 4 misdemeanor
convictions that are eligible for expungement; and
o The offense is not an assaultive crime, serious misdemeanor, crime of
dishonesty, related to human trafficking, or an offense involving a minor,
vulnerable adult, injury or serious impairment, or death.

 

A felony conviction and at least 10 years have passed from the completion of the
sentence so long as:

o There are no pending criminal charges against the individual;
o The individual has not been convicted of any crime within 10 years
following the completion of the sentence for the felony conviction that
would be expunged;

o The individual has not more than 2 felony convictions and 4 misdemeanor
convictions that are eligible for expungement; and
o The offense is not an assaultive crime, crime of dishonesty, related to
human trafficking, or an offense involving a minor, vulnerable adult, injury
or serious impairment, or death.

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EXPUNGEMENT APPLICATION PROCESS

 
As noted above, the Clean Slate legislation will not go into effect until April 10, 2021.
For offenses that are ineligible for an automatic expungement or for individuals who do
not want to wait for the automatic expungement process to begin in the fall of 2022, the
following conditions apply to expungement applications:

A maximum of 3 felony convictions may be expunged, but only one felony that is
punishable by more than 10 years’ imprisonment may be expunged;
o For an application to set aside more than one felony conviction, at least 7
years must have passed from the time the person completed the sentence
for the felony convictions sought to be expunged;

 

 For an application that seeks to set aside only one felony conviction or only one
serious misdemeanor, at least 5 years must have passed from the time the
person completed the sentence for the conviction;

 

For an application that seeks to set aside one or more misdemeanor convictions,
at least 3 years must have passed from the time the person completed the
sentence for the conviction or convictions;

 

No more than 2 convictions for assaultive crimes can be expunged in a person’s
lifetime; and

 

To be eligible to apply for an expungement, the applicant cannot have any
pending criminal charges at the time of the application and cannot have any
convictions during the waiting periods identified above.