State Law Summary

The Maryland Second Chance Expungement Gap

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Disclaimer

The following is a summary of the law prepared by law students under the supervision of a professor based on consulting multiple sources. It is only up to date as of the dates shown below and in many cases we had to make judgment calls. Therefore we encourage you to also consult the sources below, as well as the Restoration of Rights Project that include summaries of the law for all 50 states and US territories.

Source: Maryland CCRC(08/26/2023) / Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110 (2023) / SB 37 (2023) / Expungement (Adult) | Maryland Courts | List of eligible charges | MVLS List of Charges with Waiting Periods

Summary of the Law

  1. Misdemeanors:
    1. Expungement available for enumerated ( defined) misdemeanors upon petition after a 5-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(1)
    2. Expungement available for enumerated ( defined) misdemeanors upon petition after a 7-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(2)
    3. Expungement available for enumerated domestically related offenses (defined) upon petition after a 15-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(3)
    4. Expungement available for enumerated civil offenses or infractions, by petition three years after completion of sentence. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-105(9).
    5. Expungement available for conviction records for decriminalized offenses upon petition with no waiting period. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-105(a)(11).
  2. Felonies:
    1. Expungement available for enumerated felonies( defined) upon petition after a 7-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(4)
    2. Expungement available for enumerated felonies( defined) upon petition after a 10-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(6)
  3. Not eligible: Anything outside enumerated misdemeanors and felonies (use misdemeanor list above)
  4. Lifetime or other Limits: One shielding petition per lifetime. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-303 (cannot model if they have already shielded, but our analysis applies this rule)
  5. Treatment of multiple convictions from the same Incident: “Unit Rule”, all charges in the case or any related incident/cases must be eligible for expungement in order for the whole case to be eligible for expungement. (Cannabis charges are treated differently, see 7b.) Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(d)(3)
  6. LFO payment required for sentence completion: Restitution must be paid for completion of sentence.
  7. Other Unmodeled Criteria or details:
    1. Shielding (similar to sealing) available for enumerated (defined) offenses upon petition after a 3-year waiting period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-303
    2. Sealing available for juvenile records, automatically or by petition, after 21 years of age. Md. Code Ann., Courts and Judicial Proceedings § 3-8A-27
    3. Expungement available for intent to distribute cannabis upon petition after a 3-year waiting-period starting from completion of sentence, if clean (no conviction during waiting-period, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-110(c)(5)
    4. Automatic expungement available where charge is no longer a crime under Maryland law, with no waiting period. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-105.
    5. Expungement available for pardoned offenses upon petition within 10 years starting from the date of the pardon, if clean (no other conviction at time of petition, no pending charges). Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-105(c)(4)
    6. Automatic expungement available for police records of arrests not leading to charges 60 days after release. 3-year waiting period after expungement for expungement by obliteration. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-103;
    7. Vacatur available for human trafficking victims upon petition 60 days after conviction. Charges become available for expungement as a non-conviction if vacatur is granted. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 8-302(3)
    8. Automatic expungement, applying beyond October 1, 2021, but not retroactively, available for deferred adjudication, acquittals, nolle prosequis, dismissed charges, and probation before judgment (“PBJ”) after a 3-year waiting-period starting after disposition (final action on charges, or completion of treatment). Waiting period is waived if the petitioner files with the petition a written general waiver and release of all the petitioner’s tort claims arising from the charge. Md. Code Ann., Crim. Proc. § 10-105.1 [Begins October 1, 2024]

NON-CONVICTIONS:

  1. [Not modeled] We did not model eligibility because the data we had did not include reliable non-convictions data.

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