News Photo by Julie Riddle Explaining the steps involved in applying for expungement of a first-time drunk driving charge, attorney Joel Bauer talks in his office in Alpena last week.

ALPENA — People who drove drunk five years ago could get a fresh start today, as long as they’ve kept their noses clean in the meantime.

With the recent implementation of a law signed last year, hundreds of Northeast Michigan residents may be eligible to hide a first-time drunk driving offense from public view, if a judge says they’ve earned it.

That ability to clean their criminal history slate can be a “game-changer” for many local residents, said Alpena attorney Joel Bauer – but, as of now, few people are asking him for help shrugging off the burden of a drunk driving charge.

Perhaps, Bauer said, that’s because they don’t know about the law change that could, its proponents hope, both give a leg up to individuals and strengthen communities.

Part of a wide-reaching criminal justice reform movement at state level, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in August signed legislation saying that, beginning Feb. 19, drivers convicted of a first-time operating-while-intoxicated charge could have that conviction expunged, or hidden from public view.

Drivers can now apply for expungement no earlier than five years after successful completion of probation or any other sentence associated with the offense.

First offenses causing serious impairment or death or obtained with a child in the vehicle are not eligible for expungement.

First-time OWI charges for minors and “super drunk” high blood alcohol content charges may qualify for expungement.

The law change could impact many people in a region in which, in his experience, drunk driving constitutes the most-frequent criminal activity, Bauer said.

In 2020, the most recent year for which data are available, police made 233 drunk driving arrests in Northeast Michigan, where intoxicated drivers injured at least 35 people and killed four, according to Michigan State Police reports.

Between 2016 and 2020, the area’s rates of drunk driving arrests exceed statewide rates, with local police making 409 arrests per 100,000 residents, compared to 308 arrests per capita statewide.

A drunk driving conviction could lead to jail time, probation, court-mandated counseling and other treatment, loss of license, and more than $10,000 in fines, legal fees, hiked insurance premiums, and other costs, a News analysis found.

Such a conviction, lingering on a person’s record, can also stand between the convicted person and a job, education, or home.

In the past, Bauer said, OWI charges never went away.

“An 18-year-old has a drunk driving on their record when they’re 80?” he said. “How much sense does that make?”

The new law changes that equation, but making an OWI disappear takes substantial effort.

Simply getting on the court schedule to ask for an expungement requires jumping through a long list of hoops, including fingerprinting and an FBI background check.

Unlike other offenses which the state OK’ed to be automatically cleared from criminal records after a set amount of time, the law change does not guarantee OWI expungements – drivers must earn them, Bauer explained.

A driver must be able to tell a judge not only that they have not had other run-ins with the law, but also that rehabilitation efforts have paid off.

A person who coaches a soccer team, volunteers for a nonprofit or joins a service club, or holds down a steady job stands a better chance of being granted expungement, Bauer said.

Such requirements offer a strong incentive for people to better not only themselves but the place in which they live, Bauer said.

An OWI expungement is a one-time offer, with no second expungement option if a driver reoffends, and any other felony or criminal charge within the years after an OWI conviction resets the clock on eligibility.

An unsuccessful petition for expungement triggers another three-year wait before the petitioner can try again.

While an expunged drunk driving offense will be hidden from public view, police, prosecutors, probation officers, and judges – and some employers and licensing agencies – will still have access to a non-public record of the charge and conviction.

Even after expungement, OWI offenses will still show up on a public driving record as a reportable driving conviction, according to the State Appellate Defender Office.

Still, the removal of the criminal charge from public view will help people start fresh, Bauer said.

The majority of people he’s represented for a drunk driving charge learn from the rehabilitation steps required by the court and never see the inside of a courtroom again, Bauer said.

“‘You’ve done what we’ve asked of you,'” a supportive community can say to people who get into trouble with the law one time, Bauer suggested. “‘You’ve done what the law has asked of you. You’ve learned from your mistake.'”