The City of Grand Rapids’ Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) is seeking lawyers to volunteer to assist with its second annual Clean Slate GR Expungement Program.
The event runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. event on Saturday, May 13 and will be held at the Salvation Army Kroc Center -- 2500 Division Ave. S, Grand Rapids, MI 49507.
Volunteers will help the more than 400 individuals registered to date file with the State for possible expungement and assist in answering related questions from those in attendance. Lawyers don’t need to be experts in criminal law or expungements. Training will be offered to ensure that every lawyer is prepared to assist the community members at the expungement event. Individuals interested in volunteering are asked to fill out the Project Clean Slate 2023 Expungement Fair Volunteer Registration.
Michigan’s Clean Slate law allows first-time offenders of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) and Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) convictions (in which no one was injured), eligible to petition for expungement five years after their probation ends. The new law also makes all misdemeanors for marijuana possession and usage eligible for expungement, impacting an estimated 240,000 people. The law expands eligibility to many people who were not previously eligible because they had more than one felony and more than two misdemeanors or unpaid court fines/fees.
The Clean Slate law allows up to three felonies to be set aside in a lifetime and places a no-lifetime limit on misdemeanors. It reduces the waiting period to three years for misdemeanors and permits applications for multiple felonies after seven years.
A person is eligible for record clearance in Michigan even if they have unpaid court-assigned fines and fees. Life offenses and felony criminal sexual conduct convictions are not eligible under Clean Slate. The new law expanded eligibility to include most drug, property and traffic offenses.
