That 70's Conviction

Just got retained on a case with history.

Fellow was convicted back in 1977 of a firearms related charge, and had been initially charged with illegally carrying in an automobile after an officer saw him leave a gun shop and put the pistol case with the unloaded pistol into the passenger compartment rather than the trunk.

Ooops. No bad intent, just forgetfulness and excitement at a new purchase, but that is a potential 5 year felony.

It was reduced to a misdemeanor back in 1977 and he had no issues since.

Until now.  He recently got denied a firearms purchase.

The problem is one can't actually tell officially which misdemeanor it was and NICS now thinks it was a high misdemeanor, which is essentially considered to be a felony conviction for purposes of NICS, and NICS is now denying his purchasing any firearms.

The record is unclear as hell, as the court records back then were hand written, in cursive!, and not computerized at the time.

Oh, and where the records were stored - there was a flood there too.   His file was in the flood zone.

The paper the conviction was on has the original charge plain as day - Pistol in Auto complete with a clear citation to the Michigan Compiled Laws. But. the actual plea and actual conviction - not so much.  You can't tell what misdemeanor it was pled down to as the last few numbers all run and bleed together.

This is going to be fun to fix.