{"id":3129,"date":"2011-08-12T17:06:37","date_gmt":"2011-08-12T17:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-195849-4032129.cloudwaysapps.com\/michigan-dui-how-long-will-it-stay-on-my-record\/"},"modified":"2024-02-19T19:19:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T00:19:14","slug":"michigan-dui-how-long-will-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/blog\/michigan-dui-how-long-will-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan DUI – How Long Will it Stay on my Record?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within my Practice<\/a> as a DUI<\/a> and Criminal<\/a> Lawyer, I am often asked by someone facing a DUI<\/a> how long it will stay on their Record, or if the can come back later and have it Expunged<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bad news is that a DUI will stay on a person’s Record<\/a> forever, and it can NEVER “come off<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\"eraser1x.jpg\"A DUI, technically called an OWI<\/a> (Operating While Intoxicated) is both a Criminal and<\/u> Traffic Offense. A conviction for a DUI goes on both a person’s Driving Record, and their Criminal Record.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, a DUI falls under a whole different set of Laws related to a Court’s<\/a> obligation to report certain, specified Offenses to the Secretary of State. Part of those Laws is a provision that Criminal Traffic Offenses CANNOT be Expunged, ever. And this applies equally to any Criminal Traffic Offense, not just DUI’s.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Law forbids the Court from taking a DUI “under advisement,” or otherwise “deferring” it. This is often the answer I have to give someone who asks about the possibility of having the charge somehow deferred for a given period of time, and if they do everything they’re supposed to do, having the whole thing dismissed, or reduced to a non-alcohol-related Offense.<\/p>\n

In short, it cannot be done, except in those cases where there is a critical and substantial defect in the evidence.<\/a> And those situations are few and far between.
\n
\nUnder Michigan Law, as revised a few years ago, any combination of 3 alcohol-related Traffic Offenses within a person’s lifetime can result in a Felony charge. This changed the old law, which held that a person need to have 3 alcohol-related Traffic Offenses within 10 years in order for that 3rd Offense to be charged as a Felony. This means a person who had a DUI 32 years ago, and then another 27 years ago, and who is now charged with an alcohol-related Traffic Offense (usually OWI) can be charged with a Felony.<\/p>\n

The State reasons, and you really can’t disagree, that if DUI’s could be expunged, a person could avoid being charged with a 2nd or even 3d (Felony) Offense until they picked up their 3rd or 4th charge, respectively. It’s a kind of Free Pass for DUI’s that no politician is ever likely to back.<\/p>\n

That said, I agree with those who point out that it seems rather unfair that a person can come back to Court 5 years after they’re convicted of a very serious crime, like Delivery of Heroin, or Aggravated Assault, or Home Invasion, or even a whole host of Sex Crimes, and have it taken off their Record, while a person who got caught, on one occasion in their lives, after having had a few too many drinks, and is otherwise a hard-working, tax-paying and law-abiding member of society, is left without a remedy. That doesn’t seem right.<\/p>\n

But, as the saying goes, it is what it is. I wouldn’t hold out much hope that DUI’s will someday be “Expungable.”<\/p>\n

If there’s any good news here, it’s that most people will survive a DUI without much, if any, damage. Except for those who hold a CDL Endorsement, a 1st Offense DUI is not the end of the world. Contrary to the way things might feel at the moment a person is facing such a charge, it will not ruin their life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it will not go away, either. In that sense, getting a DUI is more like being branded as opposed to tattooed. There is no way to erase it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Within my Practice as a DUI and Criminal Lawyer, I am often asked by someone facing a DUI how long it will stay on their Record, or if the can come back later and have it Expunged. The bad news is that a DUI will stay on a person’s Record forever, and it can NEVER […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criminal-cases"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.randalawyers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}