Article 894 Louisiana: Set-Aside, Expungement, and DWI Eligibility

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894 lets a court suspend a misdemeanor sentence, place the defendant on probation, and then set aside the conviction and dismiss the prosecution once probation is completed successfully.¹ The set-aside itself does not erase your record. It is the step that makes you eligible to petition for expungement under Article 977, which is what actually removes the conviction from public access.

Set-Aside Is Not Expungement

Article 894 and expungement get used interchangeably in conversation, and the confusion costs people real money and time. The set-aside under Article 894(B) wipes out the conviction as a final judgment, but the arrest and court records keep sitting in state and law enforcement databases. A background check run the day after a set-aside will still show the charge.

To clean the record itself, you have to file a separate motion for expungement under Article 977.² People who stop after the set-aside sometimes discover years later that employers and landlords are still seeing the original charge.

Who Qualifies Under Article 894

Every one of these conditions has to be met before a judge will set aside a misdemeanor conviction:

The conviction is for a misdemeanor. Felonies are handled under different procedures.
The offense is not criminal neglect of family or stalking, both of which are carved out of Article 894 by statute.³
You have not been convicted of a felony in the five years before the set-aside is sought.
You have completed every term of your sentence: probation, fines, court costs, and any restitution owed.
The court is satisfied with your compliance. Judges have discretion here, and finishing probation without a formal violation is not automatically enough if the court has other concerns about conduct.

The exclusions for criminal neglect of family and stalking are absolute. Courts cannot waive them.³ People with those convictions have to look at other remedies, such as a gubernatorial pardon.

DWI Convictions

A DWI conviction can be set aside under Article 894, but the statute attaches extra requirements and a $50 fee payable to the Office of Motor Vehicles.³ That $50 is a one-time charge whether it is paid at the set-aside stage or later at expungement. It is never collected twice.

How to Get the Conviction Set Aside

Once probation and all sentence terms are finished, you or your attorney file a motion in the court that handled the original case asking the judge to set aside the conviction and dismiss the prosecution under Article 894(B). The motion should attach documentation proving every condition was met: completion of probation, paid fines and court costs, and satisfied restitution.

The judge reviews the motion. Courts look at the whole picture of conduct during probation, not just whether paperwork was in order. Evidence of steady employment, community involvement, or other signs of rehabilitation can help. If the court grants the motion, it enters an order setting aside the conviction and dismissing the prosecution. Keep a certified copy. You will need it for the next step.

Moving from Set-Aside to Expungement

After the conviction is set aside, you file a motion to expunge the record under Article 977 in the district court where the conviction occurred.² The motion has to be served on the district attorney, the arresting agency, and the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. Each has an opportunity to object.

If no one objects, the court can grant expungement without a hearing. If the district attorney or an arresting agency objects, the court schedules a contradictory hearing. Objections typically turn on whether the person has been rehabilitated or on the seriousness of the original offense.⁴

There is also an alternative path for misdemeanor cases that never went through Article 894. If more than five years have passed since you completed your sentence, probation, or parole, and you have no felony convictions during that period and no pending felony charges, you can petition for expungement directly under Article 977.⁵ This route requires certification from the district attorney confirming no disqualifying felony history.

What It Costs

Louisiana caps the total statutory cost of a standard expungement at $550.⁶ That total breaks down as:

Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information: $250
Clerk of court: up to $200
Sheriff: $50
District attorney: $50

DWI cases add the $50 Office of Motor Vehicles fee. Filing fees are paid by postal money order, bank money order, or an attorney or law firm check. Private attorney fees run roughly $1,000 to $3,000 on top of the statutory costs. Several Louisiana legal aid providers handle expungements at no charge for qualifying applicants, and some parishes hold periodic clinics where attorneys volunteer to help with the paperwork.

What You Get When the Record Is Expunged

Once expunged, the record is confidential and no longer a public record.⁷ On a typical job or housing application, you can legally answer “no” when asked about the arrest or conviction.

The exceptions are the part that trips people up. Several categories of entities can still see the expunged record:

Law enforcement and prosecutors can request it in writing for investigating or prosecuting crimes, and for sex offender registration purposes.⁷
A court can order disclosure after a hearing for good cause.
Professional licensing boards keep access on a confidential basis. The list includes the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, Board of Nursing, Board of Dentistry, Board of Pharmacy, Board of Social Work Examiners, the State Bar admissions committee, and others.⁷
Employers may be permitted to ask about expunged records for positions involving supervisory or disciplinary authority over children.

If you are heading into medicine, nursing, dentistry, law, pharmacy, or social work, the licensing board reviewing your application will still see the record. Expungement protects you from private employers and landlords, not from the state agencies that regulate these professions.

Federal agencies are their own category. A security clearance application still requires you to disclose the conviction. The SF-86 explicitly requires reporting arrests and charges “regardless of whether the record in your case has been sealed, expunged, or otherwise stricken from the court record, or the charge was dismissed.”⁸ FBI databases also do not update automatically on a Louisiana expungement. If a federal background check matters to you, send a certified copy of the expungement order directly to the FBI for correction of your Identity History Summary.

One point worth clearing up: a misdemeanor conviction in Louisiana does not take away your right to vote or disqualify you from jury service, because both disqualifications are tied to felony convictions.⁹ Expungement under Article 977 is about record access, not about restoring rights the misdemeanor never cost you.

Timeline and Practical Steps

Expect several weeks to a few months from filing to a signed expungement order. Caseloads vary by parish, and any objection from the district attorney or an arresting agency adds a hearing to the schedule. Uncontested motions move faster.

Before you file, pull together proof of completed probation, paid fines, paid court costs, and satisfied restitution. If you already have a set-aside under Article 894, get a certified copy of that order to attach to the Article 977 motion. After expungement is granted, order several certified copies of the expungement order. You will want them if a background check company still reports the record, and you will need one to send to the FBI if you care about federal databases reflecting the change.

1
Justia Law. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894 – Suspension and Deferral of Sentence; Probation in Misdemeanor Cases
2
Justia Law. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 977 – Motion to Expunge a Record of Arrest and Conviction of a Misdemeanor Offense
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894 – Suspension and Deferral of Sentence; Probation in Misdemeanor Cases
4
Orleans Parish District Attorney. Expungement
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 977 – Motion to Expunge a Record of Arrest and Conviction of a Misdemeanor Offense
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Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 983 – Costs of Expungement of a Record; Fees; Collection; Exemptions; Disbursements
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 973 – Effect of Expunged Record of Arrest or Conviction
8
Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Common SF-86 Errors and Mistakes
9
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:102 – Ineligible Persons