Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Pardon?

Unfortunately, you only get one bite of the apple for an expungement, meaning if that is the only crime you've committed, the State will consider deleting it from your public record. However, even with an expungement, the courts and police will still have that record. Hopefully, that retail fraud conviction was a misdemeanor and not a felony.

Re: Pardon?

Pardons come from the Governor's executive powers ... and are VERY rare. You can contact Governor John Engler's office at P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, Michigan 48909; (517) 335-7858; FAX (517) 335-6863 to see if your record will make you a candidate for a Governor's pardon.

Expungments (technically, we call them "setting aside a conviction") occur in court, and are decided by the judge who handled your original conviction (or his/her successor). They are a discretionary power granted by law to judges. However, there is a technical process to apply for expungment, and eligibility criteria is quite specific.

You cannot expunge your Michigan Retail Fraud conviction because, any way you look at it, you have "another conviction" on your record.

Expungment is a grace provision for people who have one --- and only one --- criminal conviction in their lifetime. Any other misdemeanor or felony conviction (before or afterward) will disqualify you.

Read the Michigan expungment statutes at http://michiganlegislature.org/law/GetObject.asp?objName=Act-213-of-1965 --- which are MCL 780.621 through 780.624.