Art. 692 Dismissal of indictment after conviction

If someone has already been convicted, the prosecutor can't just drop the charges whenever they want. There are only two situations where this is allowed.

The first is when the court grants a new trial. This means the original conviction has been set aside, and the case is basically starting over. In that situation, the prosecutor has the option to dismiss the charges instead of trying the case again.

The second situation is when the court grants a motion in arrest of judgment. This happens when a judge finds a serious legal problem with the case, usually something wrong with the charging document itself, and cancels the conviction as a result. Here too, the prosecutor can choose to dismiss the charges rather than move forward.

In short, once someone is convicted, the prosecutor's power to dismiss the case is limited. They can only do it if the court has already reopened the case through one of these two specific legal actions.