Michigan Expungement for Multiple Convictions: Limits, One Bad Night Rule, and Strategy

The Lifetime Limits

Michigan caps the number of felony convictions that can be set aside at three through the petition process. Misdemeanor petitions have no count limit — a person can petition to set aside any number of misdemeanor convictions.

The automatic Clean Slate system is narrower: a maximum of two eligible non-assaultive felonies and four eligible misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more, subject to statutory exclusions. Misdemeanors with a 92-days-or-less maximum penalty have no automatic count limit.

These are lifetime totals. A person with four felony convictions may petition to set aside up to three eligible felonies, subject to the other statutory requirements.

The One Bad Night Rule

MCL 780.621b provides a counting rule for petition-based set-asides. Multiple felony convictions, and separately multiple misdemeanor convictions, are treated as one conviction of that type when they arose from the same transaction and all occurred within a 24-hour period. A felony and misdemeanor group are not combined into one conviction.

A person with one felony and two misdemeanors from the same qualifying transaction can have the felony group counted as one felony and the misdemeanor group counted as one misdemeanor. The offenses do not all become one conviction.

The rule has hard exclusions. Bundling is unavailable for:

• Assaultive crimes
• Offenses involving dangerous weapons
• Crimes carrying a statutory maximum penalty of 10 or more years in prison
• Convictions for crimes that would be assaultive crimes if committed in Michigan

The rule affects how convictions count for petition eligibility; it does not change where an application must be filed. Convictions from different courts still require separate application packages.

Multi-Court Filings

Convictions in different courts require separate petitions regardless of whether they occurred on the same night. A conviction in Wayne County District Court and another in Wayne County Circuit Court need two MC 227 filings, two sets of service mailings, and two $50 MSP processing fees.

This is where the cost adds up. Three convictions across three courts mean three $50 MSP background-check processing fees, plus the local fingerprinting, certified-copy, and mailing costs for each application and potentially three court hearings.

Strategic Sequencing

When multiple convictions are pending for set-aside, the order of filing matters.

File the most damaging conviction first. The conviction causing the greatest barrier to employment, housing, or licensing should be prioritized. If a judge denies a petition, the default three-year refiling bar applies to the same conviction(s), unless the court specifies an earlier date; other petitions for different convictions are unaffected.

Calculate waiting periods across all convictions. The seven-year multiple-felony waiting period runs from the latest triggering event across all convictions being petitioned, not each one individually. If the most recent felony's probation ended in 2021, the seven-year wait extends to 2028 — even if an older felony's sentence was fully completed in 2015.

Check for One Bad Night eligibility before filing. The rule can reduce the count against the three-felony cap, but it does not consolidate filings across courts. Review the charging documents: eligible convictions must arise from the same transaction, occur within 24 hours, and meet the statutory exclusions above.

The Intervening Conviction Problem

For automatic sealing, a new criminal conviction recorded in the MSP database during the wait blocks eligible felonies and eligible misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more; a pending charge in that database also blocks set-aside while pending. These conditions do not apply to misdemeanors punishable by 92 days or less. For a petition, the court cannot enter an order while charges are pending or if the applicant was convicted of any criminal offense during the applicable waiting period.

MCL 780.621d also restricts petition-based set-asides: the court cannot enter an order if a criminal charge is pending or if the applicant was convicted of any criminal offense during the applicable waiting period.

The Michigan Expungement & Record Sealing Guide includes an eligibility worksheet for multiple convictions — counting felonies, identifying One Bad Night opportunities, and mapping the optimal filing sequence.

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