Benefits of Setting Aside a Michigan Conviction
An employer may not use a record of a conviction that has been set aside and should not be able to even locate it. A person who has had his or her record set aside does not have to disclose the fact that the arrest or conviction occurred.
Upon the entry of an order to set aside a conviction, the applicant, for purposes of the law, shall be considered not to have been previously convicted, except for limited circumstances such as associated civil trials or entry onto the sex offender registry.
The record will still exist for the purposes of law enforcement, but it will not be available to members of the public such as reporting agencies or employers. Michigan law states that the department of state police shall retain a nonpublic record of the order setting aside a conviction and of the record of the arrest, fingerprints, conviction, and sentence of the applicant in the case to which the order applies. This nonpublic record shall be made available only to a court of competent jurisdiction, an agency of the judicial branch of state government, a law enforcement agency, a prosecuting attorney, the attorney general, or the governor upon request.
If someone uses a conviction that has been set aside against you, that person is committing a crime!
Once a conviction has been set aside, if a person other than the applicant knows or should have known that a conviction was set aside and still divulges, uses, or publishes information concerning that conviction, that person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $500.00, or both.
Setting Aside your Michigan Conviction helps you move on!
By having a record set aside, a person previously convicted of a crime greatly limits the number of people with access to that information. Getting an order of expunction avoids a situation where an employer might unjustly exclude a person convicted of a crime. Employers who are concerned about potential tort liability based on the hiring of an employee can often make an argument that the exclusion of a person based on his or her arrest or conviction record is in-line with a business necessity. Disputing an employer’s justification is a time-consuming process that necessitates an attorney specializing in employment and labor disputes. Simply setting aside one’s record removes many practical and legal hurdles standing between a job applicant and a new career, avoiding further legal headaches down the line.