If a criminal conviction is holding you back from employment or other opportunities, Michigan’s new expungement law makes it easier to remove a criminal convictions from your record. Effective January 12, 2015, you may expunge a felony even if you have up to two misdemeanors, and if you have only been convicted of up to two misdemeanors, you may expunge one or both.
There are exceptions for certain serious crimes and traffic misdemeanors. You must also wait five years from the end of your sentence or term of probation or parole, unless your conviction was the result of you being a victim of human trafficking, in which case the waiting period is waived.
Expungement is not automatic. The judge will consider your character and degree to which you’ve been rehabilitated since the offense, and will also hear what victims of certain crimes may have to say.
The experienced attorneys at Nacht Law will determine if you are eligible for expungement, and represent you through the process to remove the conviction from your criminal record. We will also counsel you about what expungement actually means in terms of employment and other applications as well as background checks. Even if you thought you weren’t eligible for expungement, or were advised of that previously, with the recent change in the law it’s definitely worth a second look.