The real difference between a misdemeanor and a felony in Michigan.
In Michigan, the line between a misdemeanor and a felony is one year. A misdemeanor is generally punishable by up to a year in the county jail and stays in district court. A felony can be punished by more than a year, usually in state prison, and moves up to circuit court. The label also follows you differently after the case ends, which is why the charge on the paper matters less than what your lawyer does with it.
Where does Michigan draw the line?
Michigan's Code of Criminal Procedure defines a felony at MCL 761.1 as an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, or an offense the law expressly designates as a felony. A misdemeanor is essentially everything else. That one sentence drives almost everything that follows: which court hears your case, what procedure applies, what the maximum penalty looks like, and how the conviction reads on a background check years later.
It sounds simple. In practice, Michigan blurs the line with a category of offenses called high court misdemeanors, which we'll get to in a moment. First, the basics.
What are the misdemeanor classes in Michigan?
Michigan doesn't label misdemeanors with letters the way some states do. Instead, each misdemeanor carries its own maximum sentence, and those maximums fall into three practical tiers:
- 93 day misdemeanors. The least serious tier, punishable by up to 93 days in jail and fines up to $500. Disorderly conduct under MCL 750.167 is a common example.
- One year misdemeanors. Punishable by up to one year in jail, with fines that can reach $1,000. Plenty of repeat offenses and mid level charges live here.
- High court misdemeanors. Punishable by up to 2 years. These are misdemeanors in name only, and they deserve their own section.
For the first two tiers, your entire case stays in the district court for the city or township where the offense allegedly happened. Jail time, if any, is served locally, and probation is the far more common outcome for a first offense.
What is a high court misdemeanor?
A high court misdemeanor is Michigan's strangest category. The statute calls it a misdemeanor, but because it's punishable by up to 2 years, it crosses the one year line in MCL 761.1. That means it's treated as a felony for purposes of court jurisdiction and procedure. Your case starts in district court but gets bound over to circuit court, the same path a felony takes, and you're entitled to a preliminary examination along the way.
The practical takeaway: if you've been told your charge is "just a misdemeanor" but the maximum penalty is 2 years, don't relax. Employers running background checks rarely appreciate the distinction, and the court process you're facing is the felony process. Treat it accordingly, and make sure your criminal defense attorney does too.
How are felonies classified in Michigan?
Felonies in Michigan are sorted into classes A through H for sentencing purposes, plus a separate grid for second degree murder. Class A is the most serious and Class H the least. Each class carries a different statutory maximum:
| Felony class | Statutory maximum |
|---|---|
| Class A | Life 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 alternative sanctions |
The maximum is only half the story. Michigan's sentencing guidelines score your prior record and the details of the offense to produce a recommended range for the minimum sentence. Those guidelines are advisory now, not mandatory, so judges have real discretion, but most sentences still land inside the range. A skilled defense lawyer fights the scoring itself, because a few points in the right place can move the entire range down.
Which court will handle your case?
Misdemeanors punishable by a year or less stay in district court from arraignment through sentencing. Felonies and high court misdemeanors start in district court too, where the judge handles the arraignment, a probable cause conference, and a preliminary examination, then sends the case up to circuit court if the prosecution shows probable cause. We've walked through that first hearing step by step in our guide to your first court appearance in Michigan.
This split matters for strategy. The district court stage of a felony case isn't a formality. It's where bond gets argued, where evidence gets tested for the first time, and where many felony charges get reduced or resolved before they ever reach circuit court.
What are the collateral consequences of each?
The sentence is what the judge gives you. The collateral consequences are what everyone else gives you, and they're often worse. A felony conviction can cost you firearm rights, professional licenses, housing applications, and job opportunities, and it can carry serious immigration consequences for non citizens. A misdemeanor is lighter, but it still shows up on background checks and can still affect employment, especially convictions involving theft, violence, or driving.
The record itself isn't necessarily permanent. Michigan's Clean Slate laws let many people set aside both misdemeanors and felonies after a waiting period, and some convictions now come off automatically. We've covered who qualifies and how long you'll wait in our guide to Michigan expungement under the Clean Slate Act. But the waiting periods are years long, so the cheaper path is always to fight for the best possible outcome now rather than clean up a worse one later.
Why does the label matter less than the strategy?
Here's what two decades of combined practice in Wayne County courtrooms has taught us: the charge you're arrested on is a starting position, not a verdict. Prosecutors routinely charge high and negotiate down. A felony can become a misdemeanor through a plea agreement. A misdemeanor can disappear entirely through a diversion program, a deferral statute, or a dismissal when the evidence doesn't hold up.
What actually determines where your case lands is the work: challenging the stop, the search, or the statement, scoring the guidelines correctly, knowing which programs the local court actually offers, and knowing the prosecutor on the other side of the table. That's the job. The misdemeanor or felony label tells you the size of the risk. It doesn't tell you the outcome.
So don't take a "small" charge lightly, and don't treat a serious one as hopeless. Either way, get advice early, ideally before your first court date.
Quick answers
Is a high court misdemeanor a felony in Michigan?
Not technically, but it's treated like one. A high court misdemeanor is punishable by up to 2 years, and because that exceeds one year, the case is handled in circuit court and follows felony procedure, including a preliminary examination. For most practical purposes, including how it looks on a background check, you should treat a high court misdemeanor charge as seriously as a felony.
Can a felony charge be reduced to a misdemeanor in Michigan?
Often, yes. Many felony cases resolve through negotiation as misdemeanor convictions, and some qualify for diversion programs or deferred sentencing that can keep a conviction off your record entirely. The earlier a defense attorney gets involved, the more options are usually on the table. That's why we offer free consultations at (313) 274-6200.
How long does a misdemeanor stay on your record in Michigan?
Until it's set aside, a misdemeanor conviction stays on your record indefinitely. Under Michigan's Clean Slate laws, many misdemeanors come off automatically 7 years after sentencing, and you can apply to set aside most misdemeanors after 3 years (5 years for serious misdemeanors) under MCL 780.621.
Related reading
- Your First Court Appearance in Michigan: What Happens at Arraignment
- Michigan Expungement in 2026: How Clean Slate Works
- Criminal Defense at D.C. Law