Setting Aside a Drunk Driving Conviction

A drunk driving conviction in Michigan carries consequences that outlast the sentence by years, on your criminal record, on your driving record, and in the form of elevated insurance premiums that follow you long after any license suspension has ended. As of February 2022, Michigan law allows first-time OWI convictions to be expunged for the first time in the state’s history. If you have a single drunk driving conviction and have stayed out of trouble, there is now a real path to having it removed from your public record. The process has its own specific requirements, and the outcome depends on how well the petition is prepared and presented.

OWI Expungement: What Is and Is Not Eligible

• Eligible: A single OWI, OWVI, or High BAC conviction, first offense only, after a 3-year waiting period from sentence completion
• Eligible: A single OWPCS (presence of controlled substance) conviction under similar conditions
• Not Eligible: Second or subsequent OWI convictions, only one drunk driving offense may be expunged in a lifetime
• Not Eligible: OWI causing serious injury or death, these felonies are permanently ineligible
• Not Eligible: OWI convictions where a minor was a passenger in the vehicle
• Not Eligible: Commercial vehicle OWI convictions
• Important Limitation: Even after expungement, the conviction remains on your Secretary of State driving record and can be used to enhance penalties for any future OWI charge

The 3-Year Waiting Period

You must wait at least 3 years from the later of: your sentencing date; the completion of any jail or prison term; or the end of any period of probation or parole. This means if your OWI sentence included 2 years of probation, the 3-year clock does not start until that probation ends. Any new criminal convictions during the waiting period will typically disqualify you from expungement or at minimum restart the clock.

What the Expungement Actually Does

Once a drunk driving conviction is set aside, it is removed from the public criminal record maintained by the Michigan State Police. It will no longer appear on most standard background checks used by employers, landlords, and licensing agencies. For most purposes, you may truthfully answer “no” when asked about criminal convictions.

However, and this is critically important, the conviction is not removed from your Secretary of State driving record. It remains on your driving abstract and continues to be visible to insurance companies. More significantly, it remains as a prior offense for purposes of future OWI prosecution: if you are ever charged with OWI again, the expunged conviction will be treated as a prior conviction, and you will face second-offense penalties. Expungement clears your criminal record; it does not wipe the driving record or eliminate the prior-conviction consequence for future charges.

The Petition Process

An OWI expungement petition is filed in the court of original conviction. The court notifies the arresting law enforcement agency, the prosecuting attorney’s office, and the Michigan Department of State. Each may submit written objections. A hearing is scheduled where a judge evaluates the petition and determines whether setting aside the conviction is in the interest of public welfare. The judge has discretion to grant or deny the petition even if all eligibility criteria are met, which means the quality and persuasiveness of the petition and hearing preparation matter.

How Chris Approaches OWI Expungement Cases

Chris handles OWI expungement petitions with full hearing preparation, not just paperwork. He evaluates eligibility carefully, prepares a petition that addresses the factors judges focus on, coaches clients on how to present themselves at the hearing, and anticipates any objections the prosecutor’s office might raise. For Ann Arbor OWI convictions from the 15th District Court, he is filing in a court where he served as a judge for seven years, a courtroom he knows intimately.