Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: Possession Charge

You're referring to a Michigan 'possession' conviction?

No, a conviction in Michigan does not 'go away' after X years or just through the passage of time.

Generally, a criminal history check by the public will only look back for the past 10 years, and convictions other than drunk driving are generally filtered out of driving records provided by the Michigan Secretary of State. But courts, prosecutors and police can get unfiltered criminal history print-outs (i.e., the look back father than the past 10 years).

If this possession crime was your "one and only" misdemeanor or felony conviction in any state, and it's been at least 5 years since you were sentenced on this crime, you may be eligible to apply in the same court in which you were convicted to have the conviction set aside. (This is sometimes called expungement or expunction. Search the Lawguru.com Q&A database for Michigan criminal law for those terms to find more detailed information on this.) Those are two critical issues: if it's been less than 5 years or if you have at least one other criminal conviction somewhere, then you are not eligible to set aside any conviction under current Michigan law ... but a bill is pending in Lansing to expand the eligibility options, so that may open up down the road.