What Shows on Your Record After a Domestic Violence Arrest, Dismissal or Acquittal in Michigan

A domestic violence arrest in Michigan creates a fingerprint record with the State Police, even for a first offense.^[1] What happens to that record afterward depends on how the case ends: it must be destroyed if no charge is brought, removed from the public search if the charge is dismissed before trial, and destroyed after an acquittal unless an exception applies.^[2][3][4] A conviction stays on the public record unless a court sets it aside.^[8]

The governing statute is MCL 28.243.^[9] This page walks through each outcome. It describes the State Police record system and does not cover private background check companies, which were not researched for this guide.

What is recorded when you are arrested?

On an arrest for a felony, or for a misdemeanor whose maximum possible penalty exceeds 92 days' imprisonment, the arresting agency must collect the person's biometric data, meaning fingerprints, and forward it to the State Police within 72 hours; the State Police forward it to the FBI.^[9] The same requirement applies on an arrest for criminal contempt for violating a personal protection order (PPO).^[9]

First-offense domestic assault carries a maximum of 93 days.^[10] A separate subsection says a law enforcement agency "shall collect a person's biometric data" if the person is arrested for a misdemeanor violation of state law "for which the maximum penalty is 93 days," and the same goes for a corresponding local ordinance.^[1] If the person is convicted, the data and the disposition go to the State Police.^[1]

This is the point people most often get wrong. The belief that a 93-day misdemeanor is too minor to be fingerprinted or reported is incorrect for domestic assault.^[1] The State Police website describes the reporting duty as covering felonies and serious misdemeanors "punishable by over 93 days," but the statute's own wording reaches a misdemeanor "for which the maximum penalty is 93 days."^[11][9][1]

What is ICHAT, and who can see it?

ICHAT, the Internet Criminal History Access Tool, "allows the search of public criminal history record information maintained by the Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center."^[11]

ICHAT has gaps. The State Police say that suppressed records and warrant information are not available through it, and that it does not include federal records, tribal records, traffic records, juvenile records, local misdemeanors, or criminal history from other states.^[11] A clean ICHAT result therefore does not mean that no record exists anywhere.

ICHAT is also not the same thing as LEIN, the Law Enforcement Information Network that police use. Orders such as a PPO or a no-contact condition of bond or probation are entered into LEIN.^[12][13][14] See Does a PPO go on your record?

What happens to the record, outcome by outcome

Outcome	Public record (ICHAT)	Fingerprints and arrest card
Arrested, released without a charge	No charge to report[2]	Destroyed immediately[2]
Charge dismissed before trial	Arrest record removed from ICHAT[3]	Destroyed if the prosecutor agrees, or if no objection is made within 60 days of the dismissal order[3]
Found not guilty	The clerk notifies the State Police of the finding[4]	Destroyed on final disposition, with exceptions[4][5]
Deferral under MCL 769.4a, completed	Nonpublic record kept by the State Police[6]	No right to destruction[7]
Conviction	Reported to the State Police[1]	Kept[1]
Conviction set aside	Nonpublic record kept by the State Police[15]	Kept as part of the nonpublic record[15]
Conviction vacated, then dismissed or not guilty	Conviction information removed from public databases[16]	See the acquittal rule[4]

Arrested but never charged

Not every domestic violence arrest leads to a charge; the prosecuting attorney decides whether to file one, as explained in Who decides to file charges? If the person is released without a charge, "the official taking or holding the person's biometric data and arrest card shall immediately destroy the biometric data and arrest card," and the agency must notify the State Police.^[2] The same rule applies after a PPO arrest when no contempt proceeding is brought.^[2]

Charge dismissed before trial

Two things follow when "an individual is arrested for any crime and the charge or charges are dismissed before trial."^[3]

1. The arrest record "shall be removed from the internet criminal history access tool (ICHAT)."^[3]
2. If the prosecutor of the case agrees at any time after the dismissal, or if neither the prosecutor nor the judge objects within 60 days from the date the order of dismissal was entered, the arrest record, all biometric data, and fingerprints are expunged or destroyed, and any entry concerning the charge is removed from LEIN.^[3]

The 60-day no-objection route applies to dismissal orders entered after the 2018 amendment that added it took effect on June 12, 2018.^[3] The State Police act on receipt of an appropriate order from the district court or the circuit court.^[3] If a dismissed charge still appears months later, the first thing to check is whether the court sent that order.

The exceptions that limit destruction after an acquittal do not apply to this dismissed-before-trial route.^[5]

Found not guilty at trial

If the accused is found not guilty of an offense for which biometric data were collected, then on final disposition "the biometric data and arrest card must be destroyed by the official holding those items," and the court clerk must notify the State Police of the finding.^[4]

There are exceptions. The destruction requirement does not apply to a person arraigned for certain crimes, including crimes with or against a child under 16 and criminal sexual conduct in any degree, or to "a person who has a prior conviction, other than a misdemeanor traffic offense."^[5] For those people, the records are destroyed only if a judge of a court of record, by express order on the record, orders the destruction or return of the biometric data and arrest card.^[5] A person with an earlier conviction who is acquitted can ask the trial judge for that order.

Dismissal after a deferral

A dismissal at the end of a deferral under MCL 769.4a is not the same as a dismissal before trial. When the court clerk reports a disposition to the State Police, the report must indicate if the sentence was imposed under MCL 769.4a.^[17] During the deferral, the record of proceedings is closed to public inspection, although the hearings are open.^[18] Unless a judgment of guilt is entered, the State Police keep a nonpublic record of the arrest, court proceedings and disposition.^[6]

The Court of Appeals held in McElroy v Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center that an offender whose case is dismissed after completing a deferral "does not qualify as 'not guilty' and is not entitled to the destruction of his or her fingerprint card."^[7] The nonpublic record remains open to courts, law enforcement, the Department of Corrections and prosecutors for their duties.^[19] A completed deferral also counts as a prior conviction if the person is later charged with second- or third-offense domestic assault.^[20] More detail is in Does a deferral count as a conviction? and The domestic violence deferral explained.

Conviction

A conviction for domestic assault is reported to the State Police with the fingerprint record.^[1] It is not cleared by Michigan's automatic set-aside process, which excludes assaultive crimes and serious misdemeanors.^[21] A misdemeanor conviction can be set aside by application after a 5-year waiting period, and when that happens the State Police keep a nonpublic record of the arrest, fingerprints, conviction, and sentence.^[22][15] See Setting aside a domestic violence conviction and Does automatic expungement cover domestic violence?

Conviction overturned

If a judgment of conviction is vacated and the case is then dismissed, or the defendant is determined to be not guilty on retrial or by a court, the clerk must immediately report it to the State Police and the Department of Corrections.^[16] Those departments must enter the disposition in each database they maintain concerning criminal convictions and "remove all information indicating that the person was convicted of the offense from each of those databases that is available to the public."^[16]

Can employers ask about an arrest that went nowhere?

Michigan's civil rights statute says an employer, other than a law enforcement agency, shall not request, make, or maintain a record of information regarding a misdemeanor arrest, detention, or disposition where a conviction did not result.^[23] The section does not apply to information about a felony charge before conviction or dismissal.^[23] How this fits with background checks and job applications is covered in Jobs and background checks.

Records this page does not cover

The rules above govern the State Police criminal history record and the fingerprint and arrest card. Other records come from the same events and follow their own rules: the police incident report, the court's own case file, and jail booking records. Getting a copy of the police report is covered in How to get a domestic violence police report. No source reviewed for this guide addresses how long those other records are kept or who may see them, so this page does not say.

Checking and correcting your record

• Run an ICHAT search on yourself to see what the public record shows.
• Get a certified copy of the order that ended the case, whether a dismissal, an acquittal or a discharge.
• If a dismissed charge still appears, ask the court clerk whether the order went to the State Police, and ask the prosecutor's office whether it agrees to destruction of the arrest record.
• If you were acquitted and have an earlier conviction, ask a lawyer about requesting an express order for destruction from the trial judge.

The full range of ways a case can end is laid out in Possible outcomes of a domestic violence case.