How it works in Michigan

The steps

1. Get fingerprinted

   Go to a local police or sheriff's agency and ask to be printed on the Michigan Applicant Fingerprint card (RI-008) — write "Conviction Set Aside" as the reason; the agency may print you on a Live Scan machine but must hand you the printed card, since the prints cannot be sent electronically. Out of state, any law enforcement agency can print you on an FBI card (FD-258). Under MCL § 780.621d, one complete set of your fingerprints goes to the Michigan State Police with a copy of your application. Each agency sets its own fingerprinting fee; the figure here is the City of Ypsilanti Police Department's.

   Fingerprint fee: $20.00 — Ink fingerprint cards at the Ypsilanti Police Department Records Bureau, $20 for 2 cards, by appointment (Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings); no Live Scan there. A local figure — each police or sheriff's agency sets its own, and the set-aside act names none.

2. Request your record

   Check your Michigan criminal history record before you apply. The Michigan State Police name two doors: ICHAT, their public record search, which does not show juvenile cases; and a fingerprint-based personal record check by mail — the RI-008 card, a return address and the fee to the Criminal Justice Information Center, one certified copy back in three to five weeks. Local court files may hold more than the state record.

   Record request fee: $30.00 — The Michigan State Police's fingerprint-based personal record check by mail (the RI-008 card; an FD-258 card from out of state): one certified or notarized response, $1.00 each additional original, three to five weeks. ICHAT, the state police's public record search, is the other door their set-aside page names (its fee is on no page read). The set-aside application's own state police fee is the filing-fee row.

3. Review your record

   Confirm there is no disqualifying information in your history. If there is something incorrect, follow the process to challenge the issue. If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

4. Request certified documents

   Get a certified copy of each conviction you want set aside from the clerk of the court that entered it — MCL § 780.621d makes the application invalid without one. The state police ask for a certified copy of the judgment of sentence, probation order or register of actions; the form's waiting-period boxes rest on those dates, so get a record that shows them. Each court sets its own certified-copy fee; the figure here is the 36th District Court's in Detroit.

   Certified copy fee: $10.00 — 36th District Court (Detroit): $10 per certified copy of any court document — a local schedule; each court sets its own. The application needs a certified record of each conviction (MCL 780.621d(7)(b)); the state police ask for the judgment of sentence, probation order or register of actions.

5. Verify the final documents

   Review each document for accuracy. Confirm each one is certified and clearly shows you completed your obligations. Make copies of every original.

6. Prepare your application

   Complete the court's form for your case: MC 227, Application to Set Aside Conviction(s); MC 227a for a misdemeanor marihuana conviction under MCL § 780.621e; MC 227b for a conviction that was a direct result of your being a victim of human trafficking under MCL § 780.621. Note the waiting periods in MCL § 780.621d. Most misdemeanors can be applied for three years after the last of your sentence, your release from prison or the end of probation. A serious misdemeanor, one felony, or a first violation operating while intoxicated offense waits five years, and more than one felony waits seven years, each from the last of your sentence, the end of probation, your discharge from parole or your release from prison. The court cannot grant the application unless that time has passed, you have no charge pending, and you were not convicted of any offense in that time. You can apply to set aside up to three felonies in all, no more than two assaultive crimes in your lifetime, and only one felony for the same offense if it is punishable by more than ten years; several offenses from one event within 24 hours count as one conviction unless one was an assaultive crime, involved a dangerous weapon or carries ten years or more. A conviction for a victim of human trafficking under MCL § 780.621 can be applied for at any time. MCL § 780.621c lists the convictions no one can apply to set aside: a felony with a maximum of life, the child-abuse and sex offenses the section lists by number, operating while intoxicated (other than one first offense, once), a traffic offense in a commercial vehicle or one that caused injury or death, a felony domestic violence conviction after a misdemeanor one, and human trafficking and terrorism offenses; a traffic conviction that is set aside stays on your driving record.

7. Finalize your application

   Swear to the application and sign it before the court clerk or a notary — MCL § 780.621d makes it invalid unless it is signed under oath and carries your name and address, the certified record of each conviction, your statement that you were not convicted of an offense in the waiting period, any case of yours that was deferred and dismissed, any earlier application and its result, any charge pending against you anywhere, and your consent to the use of the nonpublic record. Make five copies of the application and its attachments, and keep one set for your file.

8. File your expungement application

   File the application with the court that convicted you — a separate application for each court — under MCL § 780.621. Then, under MCL § 780.621d, mail a copy with your fingerprint card and the state police fee to the Michigan State Police, and a copy each to the attorney general and to the prosecuting office that handled the case; the form's proof of service records the three. The court cannot act until the state police report comes back.

   Filing fee: $50.00 — The Michigan State Police's application fee under MCL 780.621d(9), mailed with the copy of the application and the fingerprint card to the state police — not a fee the court takes; MC 227's instructions name no court fee. Not required for a juvenile set-aside (the state police page).

9. Work with the court

   The court waits for the Michigan State Police report on your fingerprints before it acts (the state police say to allow eight weeks). The attorney general and the prosecutor may contest the application. If the conviction was for an assaultive crime or a serious misdemeanor, the prosecutor notifies the victim, who may appear and speak. At the hearing the court may ask for affidavits and proofs. Under MCL § 780.621d it may set the conviction aside if your circumstances and behavior since the conviction warrant it and doing so is consistent with the public welfare; a set-aside is a privilege, not a right. Answer anything the court asks for promptly.

10. Receive the court's order

    The court's order — the state's form is the Order on Application to Set Aside Conviction(s), MC 228 — grants or denies the application conviction by conviction, so read which convictions it names. If it is denied, MCL § 780.621d bars another application for the same conviction for three years from the denial, unless the order sets an earlier date. Keep a certified copy of a granting order.

11. Verify the record is set aside

    Under MCL § 780.623, the court sends a copy of the order to the arresting agency and the Michigan State Police. The state police keep a nonpublic record of the order and of the arrest, fingerprints, conviction and sentence; only a court, a judicial agency, the Department of Corrections, a law enforcement agency, a prosecutor, the attorney general or the governor may see it, and only for the purposes the section lists. Under MCL § 780.622 you are, for purposes of the law, considered not to have been convicted — but the conviction still counts for the sex offenders registration act if it was a listed offense, can be used as a prior offense in a later charge or sentence, and does not refund any fine or costs or end any restitution you owe; it cannot be used against anyone in a negligent-hiring, admission or licensing suit. You can get a copy of the nonpublic record from the state police for a fee. Confirm with the arresting agency that its records reflect the order. Anyone else who knows a conviction was set aside and divulges it commits a misdemeanor, though a company that reported the record while it was still public is not liable; your certified copy of the order is your authoritative reference.

If you have to mail anything, remember to keep a copy of whatever you send and to use a method with a tracking number like the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.