Is a DWI a felony in Louisiana?

The third offense — a year that cannot be suspended away. Louisiana treats the third OWI as the point where the sentence stops being negotiable. The statute sets a fine of $2,000 and imprisonment, with or without hard labour, of one to five years — and at least one year of that must be served without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. It cannot be served on home incarceration either. The one recognised exit is a drug division probation programme, which can suspend that mandatory year. If the offender has already had the benefit of probation or such a programme on an earlier third offence, the floor rises to two years. The interlock is written into the same section rather than left to the licensing agency: every vehicle the offender operates must carry a functioning device, and after one year of suspension a restricted licence becomes available on proof that it is fitted. The prosecutor may also move to have the vehicle seized and sold at auction.

Felony (imprisonment with or without hard labour): one to five years, at least one of them without parole, probation or suspension, and a fine of $2,000, plus a further $100. The range is set by La. R.S. 14:98.3(A)(1), (A)(2), (A)(3)(d), (A)(4)(a), (B)(1), (C); R.S. 15:306, and the figures on this page come from the statute rather than from a summary of it.

Louisiana runs the interlock through the Office of Motor Vehicles as part of reinstatement after an arrest for operating while intoxicated. Whether you submitted to the chemical test or refused it changes the suspension you are working off, and the device is matched to that period rather than set as a separate sentence. The device requirement and the criminal penalty are separate tracks: one is handled by the court, the other by Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (Department of Public Safety and Corrections).