DUI Expungements Available For Eligible First-Time Offenders

(CBS DETROIT) - A bill signed into law last summer is now officially in effect.

First-time DUI offenders could possibly be eligible for expungement.

Roughly 200,000 people convicted could petition their case to a court to clear their record.

"You know working with young people and then I later started working with men and women coming home from prison and or returning from jail, and you really begin to see the difficulties that folks face with convictions and DUI included because folks do go to jail or prison for DUI's," said Community Engagement Specialist Richard Speck of Safe and Just Michigan.

Violations that resulted in serious injury or death are not eligible.

If a child 16 & under was present at the time of the offense or cases involving commercial vehicles will not be considered.

Expungements will be granted to eligible petitioners three years after the conviction.

"DUI's and other kinds of convictions like this those hinder people and the importance with this DUI is folks made a bad choice," Speck explained.

"That choice could've been 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. I think if we all look back, we're certainly not the same as we were 10, 15, 20 years ago."

The measure received push back from the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Last year, MADD officials said they would support expungements only if it was offered to offenders with interlock ignition devices for at least six months.

Advocacy groups say although DUI violations are serious crimes, the new law will help people get back on their feet after learning a hard lesson.

"We all love this underdog story well, guess what, DUI's and felony convictions makes tens-of-thousands of underdogs," Speck said.

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