Any sentence less than one year would be a misdemeanor, no? Felonies are sentences of more than one year. Then you have those "wobbler's" that can be charged as either.
They are now holding people accountable for crimes that were never committed. For example; if a person is charged for a crime, but convicted of another, they hold the person accountable for the charge. If you were charged with murder and later convicted of jaywalking, that doesn't make you a murderer or a felon.
Unfortunately, the federal government has started using "charging papers" a.k.a police reports and Hearsay to deny your God Given rights. If the "element" of violence is anywhere in the subsection of the plea, the witch hunt begins.
That is not the definition of “misdemeanor”, except in the public’s mind. And I am not addressing the other problems you discuss in your post, just this one.
Do you have documentation of the situation you describe - a person being treated as if he had been convicted of the greater crime?