Expungements

Do you want to clear your record? Is that past conviction still causing you problems?

Whether it’s for personal satisfaction, peace of mind or employment purposes, there are many advantages to having your criminal conviction cleared from your public record.

With today’s economy and tough job market, any extra advantage you have when applying for employment can help. One major advantage is having a clear criminal record. Many employment positions require that the job applicant have a clean criminal record, or at a minimum, no Felony Convictions. Even if a person has been convicted of felonies or misdemeanors in Michigan, the person may have the convictions set aside, or removed, from his or her record is the applicant is eligible.

Under Michigan law, a person with certain felony or misdemeanor convictions may request that those convictions be removed from his or her public record. The technical name of the request to the court is a motion to “Set Aside” the conviction.

Setting aside a conviction removes the criminal conviction from the Public Records kept by the Michigan State Police. This process of setting aside a conviction is more commonly known as an “Expungement.” The expungement process permits a person to formally request that a Judge order the Michigan State Police to remove the conviction or convictions from public records. Once the Michigan State Police remove the convictions from public records then no convictions will be displayed when a public check is done.

Recent changes in Michigan law have expanded the scope of what convictions are now eligible for expungement. The new changes in the law now permit more convictions to be expunged than in years past. Please keep in mind that not all offenses qualify for an expungement. Every case is different and the person’s record must be reviewed thoroughly to determine if the person is eligible for the expungement process.

If a person is convicted of multiple qualifying offenses which were committed as a direct result of that person being a victim of human trafficking, then that person may be eligible to have those qualifying offenses expunged and set aside from his or her record.

A person becomes eligible for the expungement after a certain amount of time has passed depending on the conviction. The times can vary depending on the person’s overall record.

If a person is eligible, the expungement process applies to both juvenile and adult convictions. It is important to keep in mind however, that a person does not always have an automatic “Right” to have a conviction expunged off of his or her record. It is not always automatic nor is it always guaranteed for every conviction. This process is considered to be a “Privilege” by the State of Michigan and the Judge has a great deal of discretion when deciding on whether or not to grant an expungement request.

It is also important to prepare and complete your expungement process completely and properly. If a person’s expungement request is denied, then the applicant must wait 3 years to attempt the expungement process again.

The expungement process is tedious and requires that specific court procedures must be followed. Therefore, being fully prepared and filing all of the proper documents are crucial in order to be successful when making this request to the Court. If you would like to have your conviction “Set Aside” or “Expunged” off of your record, please do not hesitate to contact the Office.