Does a Michigan 769.4a Deferral Count as a Conviction?

It depends on who is asking. Under Michigan law, a discharge and dismissal under MCL 769.4a is "without adjudication of guilt" and is not a conviction "for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime."^[1] But the same subsection makes the dismissal a prior conviction for repeat-offense domestic assault charges, and other laws, including federal ones, apply their own tests.^[1][6]

This page takes each context separately and says only what the governing text says. Where the text does not answer the question, the page says so. How the deferral itself works is covered in The first-offender deferral (MCL 769.4a).

The short version, context by context

Context	Does a completed deferral count?	Source
Michigan disqualifications and disabilities imposed "upon conviction of a crime"	No, by the words of the statute	MCL 769.4a(5)[1]
A later second-offense or third-offense domestic assault charge	Yes, "it is a prior conviction"	MCL 769.4a(5)[1]
Getting a second deferral	Yes; only 1 discharge and dismissal per individual	MCL 769.4a(5)[1]
Public court record during the deferral	Closed to public inspection	MCL 769.4a(6)[7]
State Police record	A nonpublic record is retained	MCL 769.4a(7)[2]
Fingerprint and arrest card	Not destroyed	McElroy v Michigan State Police[8]
Applying to set aside other convictions	Considered a misdemeanor conviction for counting purposes	MCL 780.621(2)(c)[9]
Federal firearm ban, 18 USC 922(g)(9)	Not settled by the statute and regulation text	27 CFR 478.11[5]
Federal immigration law	Federal law applies its own definition of conviction	8 USC 1101(a)(48)(A)[6]

Under Michigan law generally

When a person fulfills the terms and conditions of deferral probation, the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings.^[1] That discharge and dismissal "must be without adjudication of guilt and is not a conviction for purposes of this section or for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime."^[1]

Two points about timing. First, this language describes a deferral that has been completed. While probation is still running the case has not been dismissed, and a violation can lead the court to enter an adjudication of guilt.^[10] Second, if that happens, the result is an ordinary conviction and none of the protections on this page apply.^[10][11]

For a later domestic assault charge: yes, it is a prior

MCL 769.4a(5) ends with an exception: the dismissal "is a prior conviction in a prosecution under sections 81(4) and (5) and 81a(3)" of the Penal Code.^[1] Those are the provisions that raise the charge when a person has earlier domestic assault convictions.

So a person who completed a deferral and is later prosecuted for domestic assault can be charged under the second-offense provision, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, in place of the 93-day first offense.^[1][12] With 2 or more priors the charge is a felony punishable by up to 5 years.^[13] The enhancement rules, including how priors are proved, are in Second and third offenses.

The dismissed case also blocks a second deferral. There must be only 1 discharge and dismissal under the section for any individual, and the nonpublic record exists in part so that courts, police and prosecutors can show that a defendant "has already once had proceedings deferred."^[1][14]

On background checks and in public records

Court hearings under MCL 769.4a are open to the public. The record of proceedings, however, is closed to public inspection during the period of deferral.^[7] Unless the court enters a judgment of guilt, the Department of State Police "shall retain a nonpublic record of the arrest, court proceedings, and disposition of the criminal charge."^[2]

ICHAT, the State Police online search, searches public criminal history record information.^[15] The State Police say that suppressed records are not available through ICHAT.^[15] That page does not define "suppressed records" or mention MCL 769.4a; the statute's own word for the deferral record is "nonpublic."^[15][2] The court clerk reports to the State Police that the case was handled under MCL 769.4a.^[16]

Nonpublic does not mean invisible. The statute opens the record to:

• The courts of this state, law enforcement personnel, the Department of Corrections and prosecuting attorneys, for use in performing their duties, or to decide whether one of their own employees violated conditions of employment or whether an applicant meets their employment criteria.^[3]
• Courts, law enforcement and prosecutors, to show that a defendant charged with domestic assault has already had one deferral, and to determine eligibility for a drug treatment court discharge and dismissal.^[14]
• The Department of Health and Human Services, for enforcing child protection laws and vulnerable adult protection laws, and for checking the criminal history of people who will be engaged in enforcing those laws.^[4]

So when a person applies for a job with a court, a law enforcement agency, the Department of Corrections or a prosecutor's office, the statute lets that employer use the record to decide whether the applicant meets its criteria for employment.^[3] The Department of Health and Human Services may use it in enforcing child protection laws.^[4] What private employers and landlords can find is discussed in Domestic violence and employment background checks.

Fingerprints and the arrest record

Michigan law provides for destroying fingerprints and the arrest card when a person is found not guilty, subject to exceptions.^[17][18] A dismissed deferral is not treated that way. In McElroy v Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center, the Court of Appeals held that an offender whose adjudication of guilt was deferred under MCL 769.4a, and whose case was dismissed after completing the program, "does not qualify as 'not guilty'" and is not entitled to destruction of the fingerprint card.^[8] The general rules are in What shows on your record after an arrest, dismissal or acquittal.

When applying to set aside (expunge) other convictions

The Setting Aside Convictions Act counts a person's convictions to decide eligibility. For that count, a case that was deferred and dismissed under MCL 769.4a "is considered a misdemeanor conviction."^[9] A dismissed deferral can therefore matter years later when a person asks a court to set aside an unrelated conviction. See Setting aside a domestic violence conviction.

Michigan's 8-year firearm ban

Since February 13, 2024, MCL 750.224f(5) has barred "a person convicted of a misdemeanor involving domestic violence" from possessing a firearm or ammunition in Michigan until 8 years after the sentence is fully completed.^[19][20] The ban is written in terms of a person "convicted."^[19] MCL 769.4a(5), for its part, says a discharge and dismissal is not a conviction for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime.^[1]

Those are the two texts. The sources used for this guide do not include a court decision applying them together, and they say nothing specific about the period while deferral probation is still pending. Separately from the conviction question, a judge setting bond may bar a defendant from purchasing or possessing a firearm, and a probation order may carry any other lawful condition the court considers proper.^[21][22] Anyone on a deferral who owns firearms should get individual legal advice before relying on either reading.

The Michigan ban is explained in Michigan's 8-year gun ban.

The federal firearm ban

Federal law makes it unlawful for a person "convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" to possess a firearm or ammunition.^[23] The federal definition of that term turns on the elements of the offense and the relationship between the people involved.^[24]

On what counts as a conviction, a federal regulation states: "A person shall not be considered to have been convicted of such an offense for purposes of this part unless: (i) The person is considered to have been convicted by the jurisdiction in which the proceedings were held."^[5] Michigan's statute says a 769.4a discharge and dismissal is not a conviction for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime.^[1]

That is as far as the statute and regulation text go. No primary source read for this guide applies the federal rule to a Michigan 769.4a deferral specifically, either after dismissal or during the period when the plea has been entered and probation is still running.^[5] The question is not settled by those sources, and this page does not state a conclusion beyond the two quotations.

Anyone whose work or household involves firearms should get individual legal advice before pleading. The federal ban is covered in The federal firearm ban.

Immigration

Federal immigration law does not borrow Michigan's definition. Under 8 USC 1101(a)(48)(A), "conviction" means a formal judgment of guilt or, "if adjudication of guilt has been withheld," a case where the person entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or was found guilty, and the judge ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on the person's liberty.^[6]

Compare that with how a deferral works: the person pleads guilty or is found guilty, the court holds off entering a judgment of guilt, and the person is placed on probation.^[25] The federal definition is written to reach some withheld adjudications, and a noncitizen should not assume that a Michigan dismissal answers the federal question.^[6] No case or agency decision applying the federal definition to a Michigan deferral was read for this guide.^[6]

The stakes can be high. A noncitizen who at any time after admission is convicted of a crime of domestic violence is deportable under federal law.^[26] Defense counsel must inform a noncitizen client whether a plea carries a risk of deportation.^[27] See Immigration consequences of domestic violence.

What people get wrong

"Dismissed means it never happened." The dismissal is not a conviction for most Michigan purposes, but it is a prior for repeat-offense charges, the State Police keep a nonpublic record, and the fingerprints stay on file.^[1][2][8]

"Nobody can see a nonpublic record." Courts, police, prosecutors, corrections officials and child protection workers can, for the purposes listed in the statute.^[3][4]

"The answer is the same everywhere." Michigan's statute controls Michigan disabilities. Federal firearm and immigration law each have their own text on what a conviction is.^[1][5][6]

These trade-offs are weighed in Should you take the deferral?