Michigan Felony Classes, Specified Felonies, and Sentencing

Michigan felony classes and sentencing work on a two-part system: every felony is assigned a class from A through H (with a separate track for second-degree murder), and that class determines which sentencing grid a judge uses to calculate the recommended minimum prison term.¹ The maximum sentence, though, is set by the individual statute that defines the crime, not by the class label.² A felony is any crime punishable by time in a state prison, which is what separates it from a misdemeanor carrying only county jail.³

The Eight Felony Classes

The class labels generally correspond to these sentencing ranges:

Class A: life imprisonment
Class B: up to 20 years
Class C: up to 15 years
Class D: up to 10 years
Class E: up to 5 years
Class F: up to 4 years
Class G: up to 2 years
Class H: up to 2 years, often served through intermediate sanctions rather than prison

“Generally” is doing real work in that list. Two offenses can both sit in Class D while one carries a seven-year statutory maximum and the other allows up to twenty.² If you want to know the ceiling for a specific crime, read the statute that creates the offense. The class tells you which grid applies; the statute tells you how high the punishment can go.

How the Sentencing Grid Produces a Number

Michigan uses a point-based system to generate a recommended minimum sentence range for every felony. Two sets of variables get scored. Prior Record Variables measure the defendant’s criminal history. Offense Variables measure the seriousness of the current crime.⁴

The seven Prior Record Variables cover past felony and misdemeanor convictions, juvenile adjudications, and whether the person was under court supervision when the new crime happened. Offense Variables look at factors like physical harm to a victim, whether a weapon was used, and the number of victims. Each variable carries its own point value, and the values increase with severity.

Once both totals are set, they are plotted on the grid for the offense’s class. The Prior Record total runs along one axis, the Offense total along the other, and the cell where they meet shows a recommended minimum sentence range in months.⁵ Grid cells come in three types:

Prison cells, where the recommended minimum exceeds one year.
Straddle cells, where the range spans jail and prison territory and the judge chooses.
Intermediate sanction cells, where the recommended maximum is 18 months or less and alternatives like probation, community service, or county jail become available.

The scoring is documented in a Pre-Sentence Investigation Report that becomes part of the court record.⁶

The Two-Thirds Rule

Whatever the grid says, the minimum sentence a judge imposes cannot exceed two-thirds of the statutory maximum for that offense.⁶ A crime with a 15-year statutory maximum carries a highest possible minimum of 10 years. The cap holds even when the judge departs from the guidelines, and in practice it comes up often.

Guidelines Are Advisory, Not Mandatory

The guidelines used to bind judges. Before 2015, a judge needed “substantial and compelling reasons” to go outside the recommended range. The Michigan Supreme Court struck down the mandatory framework in People v. Lockridge, making the guidelines advisory. Judges still have to score the guidelines and take the range into account, but they can depart from it if they explain on the record why the departure is justified and why they picked the specific sentence they picked.⁷ The legislature amended MCL 769.34 in 2020 to formally allow reasonable departures. The grid is still the starting point, but it is no longer the finish line.

Habitual Offender Enhancements

Prior felony convictions can stretch the statutory maximum well beyond what the class suggests. If the prosecutor wants to use these enhancements, they have to file written notice within 21 days after arraignment on the information (or within 21 days of the information being filed if arraignment is waived).⁸ The deadline is strictly enforced. Miss it, and the enhancement goes away.

Second Felony

With one prior felony, the court can raise the maximum to one and a half times the normal statutory maximum.⁹ A 10-year maximum becomes 15. If the offense already allows life, the enhanced maximum stays life. The maximum cannot be set below the normal first-conviction maximum.

Third Felony

With two priors, the court can double the statutory maximum.¹⁰ That same 10-year offense could now carry up to 20.

Fourth or Subsequent Felony

With three or more priors, the enhancement depends on how serious the new offense is:¹¹

If the new felony normally carries five years or more (or life), the court can impose up to life.
If the new felony normally carries less than five years, the court can impose up to 15 years.
If the new felony is a “serious crime” and at least one prior is a “listed prior felony,” the court must impose a mandatory minimum of 25 years.

The last category is the hardest. That 25-year minimum is not softened by the guidelines, judicial discretion, or the two-thirds rule.

Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences

Multiple felony counts can run at the same time or back-to-back. Michigan defaults to concurrent sentences, with consecutive sentencing reserved for specific situations. The most common trigger is picking up a new felony while charges from a previous felony are still pending. In that situation the court may order the sentences to run consecutively, and for major controlled substance offenses committed while other felony charges are pending, consecutive sentencing is mandatory.¹² The difference is enormous. Two concurrent 10-year sentences mean 10 years in total. The same two sentences running consecutively mean 20.

Specified Felonies and the Firearm Overlay

Running alongside the A-through-H classification is a separate label that matters for firearm rights after release. Any felony conviction costs you your firearm rights, but the length of the ban depends on whether the felony is “specified.” For ordinary felonies, the ban lasts three years after all fines are paid and all imprisonment, probation, or parole is completed, and rights are then automatically restored without a court petition. For specified felonies, the ban runs at least five years after sentence completion, and the person must successfully petition the court to restore their rights under MCL 28.424.¹³

A felony counts as specified if it involves any of the following:

The use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against a person or property, or by its nature a substantial risk that such force may be used.
Manufacturing, possessing, or distributing illegal drugs.
Unlawful possession or distribution of a firearm.
Unlawful use of explosive materials.
Burglary or breaking and entering of an occupied dwelling, or arson.

Assuming your rights come back automatically after a specified felony can itself produce a new felony charge for illegal firearm possession. Federal law adds a separate prohibition on firearm possession for anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, and that federal ban is not lifted by Michigan’s state restoration process.¹⁴

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 777.16t – Felonies to Which Chapter Applicable
2
Michigan Courts. Offense Categories and Crime Classes
3
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.7 – Felony Definition
4
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 777.21 – Determination of Offense Category and Offense Variable Levels
5
Michigan Courts. Michigan Sentencing Guidelines Manual
6
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 769.34 – Sentencing Guidelines Duties of Court
7
Michigan Courts. Effect of Lockridge
8
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 769.13 – Enhanced Sentence Notice
9
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 769.10 – Second Felony Offender
10
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 769.11 – Third Felony Offender
11
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 769.12 – Fourth Felony Offender
12
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 768.7b – Consecutive Sentences
13
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 750.224f – Possession of Firearm by Person Convicted of Felony
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts