If you’re found guilty in Michigan, whether by a jury verdict or a guilty plea, the case moves immediately into sentencing, where a judge draws on Michigan’s advisory sentencing guidelines to set your punishment, orders mandatory restitution and court assessments, and starts a short clock on your right to appeal. What follows depends heavily on the class of offense, your prior record, and whether you went to trial or pleaded out.
What Comes Next After the Verdict or Plea
Once guilt is established, the court schedules a sentencing hearing. Before you leave the courtroom after sentencing, the judge is required to inform you of your appellate rights on the record and give you a form to request a court-appointed appellate lawyer if you can’t afford one.1Michigan Courts. Appointment of Appellate Lawyer Between the verdict and sentencing, a probation officer typically prepares a presentence report, and both sides begin building their arguments about what the sentence should be.
The Sentencing Hearing
Sentencing is the last point at which you can directly influence your punishment, and preparation matters. The defense usually introduces mitigating factors: background, mental health history, employment record, role in the offense. The prosecution may highlight aggravating circumstances such as the vulnerability of the victim or a perceived lack of remorse. Victims have the right to address the court as well.
The judge weighs those arguments against the sentencing guidelines score and the statutory limits for the offense before imposing a sentence.
How Michigan’s Sentencing Guidelines Set the Range
Michigan uses a scoring system to produce a recommended minimum sentence for felonies. Points are assigned in two categories: offense variables, which measure how serious the specific crime was, and prior record variables, which reflect your criminal history. Those scores plot onto a grid that generates a suggested minimum range.2Michigan Courts. Chapter 2 – Scoring Offense and Prior Record Variables
Since 2015, those guidelines are advisory rather than mandatory. In People v. Lockridge, the Michigan Supreme Court struck down the requirement that judges give a “substantial and compelling reason” to depart from the range. Judges still have to consult the guidelines, take them into account, and explain their reasoning on the record so the sentence can be meaningfully reviewed on appeal. But they are no longer locked into the recommended minimum.3Michigan Courts. Sentencing Before and After Lockridge
The practical effect: two defendants with identical scores can walk out with meaningfully different sentences depending on the judge’s view of the circumstances. That also means a sentence outside the guidelines range is a real target for appellate review if it wasn’t adequately justified on the record.
Prison Terms by Felony Class and Misdemeanor Maximums
The statutory maximum in the statute defining your offense controls the upper limit of your sentence. For felonies, Michigan sorts offenses into crime classes that correspond to general maximums:
- Class M2 and Class A: life imprisonment or any term of years
- 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: jail or other intermediate sanction
Individual statutes can set different maximums, so the exact charge matters more than the class label.4Michigan Courts. Michigan Sentencing Guidelines Manual
For misdemeanors, when a Michigan statute labels an offense a misdemeanor without specifying a penalty, the default maximum is 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.5Michigan Legislature. MCL 750.504 – Michigan Penal Code Many specific misdemeanors carry higher ceilings. Some reach 93 days, some one year, and “high court misdemeanors” can run up to two years. Check the exact statute rather than relying on general categories.
Habitual Offender Enhancements
If you already have prior felonies, your exposure can jump sharply. A new felony conviction for someone with three or more prior felonies triggers Michigan’s habitual offender statute, with consequences that depend on the new offense and the nature of the prior record:
- If the new felony carries 5 years or more, the court may impose up to life in prison.
- If the new felony carries less than 5 years, the court may impose up to 15 years.
- If the new offense is a “serious crime” and at least one prior conviction is a “listed prior felony,” a 25-year mandatory minimum applies.
Listed prior felonies include specific violent crimes and serious drug offenses defined in the statute. The 25-year mandatory minimum only kicks in when both conditions are met: the new offense qualifies as a serious crime and at least one prior falls on that list.6Michigan Legislature. MCL 769.12 – Punishment for Subsequent Felony Following Conviction of 3 or More Felonies
These enhancements apply regardless of when the prior convictions occurred and reach out-of-state felonies that would qualify as felonies in Michigan. Decades-old convictions can still drive today’s sentence.
Restitution, Fines, and Court Costs
A sentence in Michigan isn’t just prison or probation. Restitution is mandatory, not optional. The sentencing court must order full restitution to every victim whose losses stem from your conduct, and this requirement applies even when a case ends with a deferred judgment, delayed sentence, or youthful trainee status rather than a traditional conviction.7Michigan Legislature. MCL 780.766 – Restitution
The scope is broad. Restitution covers the fair market value of stolen or damaged property, medical expenses (including anticipated future treatment), lost income, counseling for the victim’s family, and funeral costs in homicide cases. For property, courts use the greater of the value at the time of the crime or at the time of sentencing, so appreciation or inflation can raise what you owe.7Michigan Legislature. MCL 780.766 – Restitution
Separate from restitution, every convicted defendant owes mandatory assessments. The Crime Victim Rights Assessment is $130 for a felony and $75 for a misdemeanor, fixed by statute and collected regardless of ability to pay. Court-ordered costs not paid within 56 days of the due date carry a 20 percent late penalty.8Michigan Courts. Fines, Fees, Costs, and Rates Supervision fees during probation, fees for court-appointed attorneys, and various state surcharges can push the total higher. These obligations often outlast the sentence itself.
Appealing After a Trial Conviction vs. a Guilty Plea
The route to appeal depends on how you were convicted, and the deadlines are strict.
After a trial conviction, you have an appeal by right. You must file a claim of appeal within 42 days of the sentencing judgment. If you filed a qualifying post-sentencing motion (such as a motion for new trial or to correct an invalid sentence), the 42-day clock runs from the date that motion is denied.9Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Rules Chapter 7 Appellate Rules – Rule 7.204 The same 42-day period applies to requesting court-appointed appellate counsel if you cannot afford a lawyer.1Michigan Courts. Appointment of Appellate Lawyer
After a guilty plea, there is no appeal by right. You can only file an application for leave to appeal, which the Court of Appeals may accept or reject. The deadline to request appointed counsel for that application is six months after sentencing.1Michigan Courts. Appointment of Appellate Lawyer The judge is required to explain this difference before accepting the plea, but defendants under pressure often don’t fully absorb what they’re giving up.10Michigan Courts. Michigan Court Rules Chapter 6 Criminal Procedure – Rule 6.302
Missing either deadline is jurisdictional. It can permanently forfeit the appeal.
What Appellate Courts Actually Review
The Court of Appeals reviews the trial court record for legal errors, not factual disputes. Appellate judges do not re-weigh evidence or hear new witnesses. They look for problems like improperly admitted evidence, flawed jury instructions, prosecutorial misconduct, or errors in applying the sentencing guidelines. When the sentence falls outside the advisory guidelines range, the court reviews whether the sentence was reasonable and adequately justified on the record.3Michigan Courts. Sentencing Before and After Lockridge
Other Post-Conviction Motions
You can file a motion for a new trial if errors during the original trial may have affected the verdict. Michigan courts grant these when new evidence surfaces that could not reasonably have been discovered before trial, or when serious procedural mistakes occurred. A separate motion to correct an invalid sentence addresses sentences that violate the law, such as those exceeding the statutory maximum or built on a miscalculated guidelines score.
Ineffective assistance of counsel is another frequently raised ground. Under Strickland v. Washington, you must show two things: that your attorney’s performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and that there’s a reasonable probability the outcome would have been different without the errors. Both prongs are deliberately hard to meet. Courts give defense attorneys wide latitude on strategic calls, and “different outcome” means more than a possibility. Typical successful claims point to specific failures like neglecting an alibi investigation, missing a critical motion, or giving affirmatively wrong advice about a plea.
Clearing the Record Later
Even after a conviction stands, Michigan law allows many people to clear their records eventually.
Petition-Based Expungement
You can petition to set aside up to three felony convictions and an unlimited number of misdemeanors, with limits. No more than two of the expunged convictions can be assaultive crimes, and only one felony carrying more than 10 years can be set aside if you have multiple convictions for the same offense.11Michigan Legislature. MCL 780.621 – Setting Aside Conviction Some offenses can never be expunged, including life felonies, most sex offenses requiring registration, and crimes involving minors. The petition goes to the original sentencing court, and the prosecutor and any victims receive notice and may object.
Automatic Expungement Under Clean Slate
Michigan’s Clean Slate law, enacted in 2020, created automatic expungement for qualifying convictions. The rollout began April 11, 2023, and eliminates the need to file a petition for eligible offenses. Waiting periods are:
- Misdemeanors punishable by less than 93 days: seven years from sentencing
- Misdemeanors punishable by 93 days or more: seven years from sentencing
- Felonies: ten years from sentencing or release from prison, whichever is later
Assaultive crimes, certain weapons offenses, and felonies carrying a maximum life sentence are excluded from automatic expungement. For those, the petition remains the only route.12Michigan Attorney General. Automatic Expungements – Michigan Clean Slate The system reviews records and clears eligible convictions without any action from you, though the waiting periods mean only older convictions qualify.