Minnesota DWI Diversion Program: Eligibility, Process, and Expungement

Not every first-offense DWI in Minnesota has to end with a criminal conviction. Some counties offer pretrial diversion programs that can result in complete dismissal of the criminal charges — and from there, the possibility of expunging the arrest from your record entirely.

How Diversion Programs Work

A DWI diversion program is an agreement between the defendant and the prosecutor. Instead of proceeding through the normal criminal process to a plea or trial, the prosecutor pauses the prosecution while the defendant completes a set of conditions over a specified period, typically one year.

The standard conditions include:

• Completing a chemical health assessment with a licensed counselor
• Following through on whatever treatment level the assessment recommends
• Attending a Victim Impact Panel
• Performing community service hours
• Remaining law-abiding and arrest-free for the program duration
• Abstaining from alcohol and drugs (sometimes monitored by random testing)
• Paying program fees and any applicable fines

Complete every condition, and the prosecutor dismisses the criminal charges. Fail to complete them — or pick up a new charge during the program — and the prosecution resumes where it left off.

Which Counties Offer Diversion

DWI diversion is not a statewide program in Minnesota. It's offered at the discretion of individual county or city attorneys' offices, and availability varies significantly. Ramsey County and Winona County are among those known to operate DWI diversion programs. Other counties may offer informal diversion arrangements negotiated case-by-case between defense counsel and the prosecutor.

Because it's discretionary, there's no guaranteed eligibility even in counties that run the program. Prosecutors typically reserve diversion for defendants who:

• Have no prior DWI-related incidents (criminal or administrative)
• Had no aggravating factors (BAC under 0.16, no child passenger, no accident)
• Were cooperative during the arrest
• Have no significant criminal history

If your case involves aggravating factors — high BAC, test refusal, injury, or a minor in the vehicle — diversion is almost certainly off the table.

The Administrative Track Continues

A critical detail that diversion participants often miss: completing the diversion program and getting the criminal charges dismissed does not affect your administrative license revocation. The DVS revocation proceeds independently of the criminal case.

This means you'll still serve the full revocation period, still pay the $680 reinstatement fee, and still need to file an Implied Consent petition within 60 days if you want to challenge the revocation. A dismissed criminal case through diversion does not undo an administrative revocation you never challenged.

County prosecutor diversion is not the same program as DVS's Driver Diversion Program. The DVS program — not county DWI diversion — is the one that bars partial pay of the $680 reinstatement fee.

Expungement After Diversion

Successful completion of a diversion program positions you for the strongest possible expungement petition. Once the criminal charges are dismissed, you can petition the court under Minnesota's expungement statutes to seal the records of your arrest and court proceedings.

Minnesota distinguishes between two types of expungement:

Statutory expungement under Chapter 609A covers specific categories of dismissed cases. A DWI that was dismissed through diversion generally qualifies. Statutory expungement, when granted, binds all government agencies — the court records, arrest records, and BCA records are sealed.

Inherent authority expungement is a court's equitable power to seal its own records. This is narrower — it only covers court records, not necessarily law enforcement or BCA records. For diversion dismissals, statutory expungement is the stronger and more common path.

The petition is typically filed after a waiting period (which varies depending on the case) and requires demonstrating that the benefit of expungement to the petitioner outweighs the disadvantage to the public. For a dismissed first-offense DWI where the defendant completed all diversion conditions, courts generally view the balance favorably.

Even after a successful expungement of the criminal records, the administrative revocation remains on your DVS driving record. The revocation counts as a prior administrative incident for the 20-year lookback under HF 2130.

Is Diversion Worth Pursuing?

For a first-time offender with a standard-level BAC and no aggravating factors, diversion — where available — offers the best possible criminal outcome. A dismissed charge, potential expungement, and no criminal conviction on your record is significantly better than a guilty plea, even to a misdemeanor.

The tradeoffs are the program requirements themselves (treatment compliance, community service, monitoring) and the program fees. But these are comparable to what you'd face under probation after a guilty plea anyway. The difference is what happens at the end: dismissal instead of a conviction.

If diversion isn't available in your county, your attorney may still negotiate conditions similar to a diversion agreement as part of a plea arrangement — a continuance for dismissal, sometimes called a "stay of adjudication." These arrangements vary by county and by prosecutor.

The Minnesota First-Offense DUI Guide covers the criminal process pathway, including the points where diversion eligibility enters the picture and how it interacts with the administrative track.

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