Maryland Expungement Statute: Eligibility, Filing, and Limits

Maryland expungement eligibility turns almost entirely on how your case ended. Acquittals, not-guilty verdicts, and dismissals qualify immediately. Nolle prosequi and stet dispositions qualify after three years, or sooner with a signed waiver. Probation before judgment qualifies three years after it was granted for most offenses, but fifteen years for alcohol-related DUI and DWI. A defined list of misdemeanor convictions can be expunged after five or ten years under Criminal Procedure Section 10-110. Violent felonies and sexual offenses cannot be expunged at all. The rules live primarily in Criminal Procedure Sections 10-105 and 10-110, with a separate shielding process under the Second Chance Act for a narrower group of misdemeanor convictions.¹

What Qualifies by Disposition

Under Criminal Procedure Section 10-105, you can petition for expungement based on any of the following case outcomes, each with its own waiting period:

Acquittal, not guilty, or dismissal. No waiting period.
Nolle prosequi or stet. Three years, or immediate if you file a General Waiver and Release.
Probation before judgment (PBJ). Three years after the PBJ was granted for most offenses. Fifteen years after discharge from probation if the PBJ was for a violation of Section 21-902(a) or (b) of the Transportation Article (alcohol-related DUI or DWI), with no subsequent convictions or additional PBJs for the same offense during that window.
Governor’s pardon. Petition must be filed within ten years after the pardon was signed.
Nuisance crime convictions. Offenses like panhandling, loitering, public intoxication, sleeping in parks, public drinking, and failure to prove transit payment. Three years after completing the sentence.
Certain misdemeanor convictions. A defined list under Section 10-110, with five- or ten-year waits after completing the sentence.

Waiting periods run from the disposition date or from the completion of any sentence imposed, whichever applies. “Completing the sentence” means finishing everything, including probation, parole, and mandatory supervision.¹

Since October 1, 2021, Maryland has automatically expunged cases where every charge ended in an acquittal, not guilty finding, dismissal, or nolle prosequi. The court removes the record three years after the disposition date without any petition or fee. If you want it gone sooner, you can still file a petition for immediate expungement at no cost. For dispositions entered before October 1, 2021, you have to file the petition yourself, though there is no filing fee for these disposition types.²

Guilty Convictions That Can Be Expunged

Many people assume a guilty finding permanently closes the door. It doesn’t, for two categories of offenses.

The first is the nuisance crimes listed above. These qualify three years after you finish the sentence.³

The second is the list of misdemeanor convictions in Criminal Procedure Section 10-110. It includes second-degree assault, theft, trespass, prostitution, possession of a controlled substance, disorderly intoxication, certain real estate licensing violations, violations of peace orders, and violations of wiretapping laws, among others. The waiting period is either:

Five years after completing the sentence for offenses including disorderly intoxication, certain real estate licensing violations, and violations of peace orders.
Ten years after completing the sentence for offenses including second-degree assault, theft, and possession of controlled substances.

A new conviction during the waiting period, or an open criminal case, blocks eligibility. The filing fee for a guilty-disposition expungement is $30 per case, and it is nonrefundable even if the court denies the petition. If you cannot afford it, you can ask the court to waive the fee.⁴

Cannabis Cases

Under Criminal Procedure Section 10-112, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services was required to automatically expunge every case where possession of cannabis was the only charge and the charge was issued before July 1, 2023. That mass expungement was required to be completed by July 1, 2024, and removed the records from the state’s Central Repository without any individual petition.⁵

If your cannabis possession case also included other charges, the automatic process did not cover it. You would need to petition separately, and the unit rule described below can complicate things.

What Can Block an Otherwise-Eligible Case

Even when your disposition type qualifies, several things can stop the petition.

The unit rule. If your case involved multiple charges arising from the same incident and any one of those charges is ineligible for expungement, the entire group is blocked. This is the barrier that catches most people off guard. You might have a case where four out of five charges were dismissed, but if the fifth resulted in an ineligible conviction, none of the dismissed charges in that unit can be expunged. The only exceptions are minor traffic offenses carrying no jail time and cannabis possession charges, which are excluded from the unit calculation.²

A pending criminal case. You cannot expunge any record while you are a defendant in an open criminal matter. Wait until it resolves.

An intervening conviction. For PBJ and guilty-disposition expungement, a new conviction during the waiting period disqualifies you, unless the new conviction was for conduct that is no longer a crime under Maryland law.⁶

An unfinished sentence. The waiting period does not begin running until you complete every component of your sentence, probation and parole included.

Courts can also grant expungement at any time on a showing of good cause, which functions as a safety valve for cases that don’t fit the standard framework.¹

Shielding Is a Different Remedy

Shielding and expungement are often confused, and they produce different results. Expungement destroys or seals the record. Shielding leaves the record intact but removes it from public view, including Maryland Judiciary Case Search. Law enforcement and certain government agencies can still access shielded records.⁷

Under the Second Chance Act, Criminal Procedure Sections 10-301 through 10-303, you can petition to shield convictions for 12 specific misdemeanors: disorderly conduct; disturbing the peace; failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order; malicious destruction of property in the lesser degree; trespass on posted property; possession of a controlled dangerous substance; possession of a noncontrolled substance; drug paraphernalia possession or use; driving without a license; driving on a suspended, canceled, or revoked license; driving while uninsured; and prostitution (not assignation).

The wait is three years after completing the sentence, or five years for theft of property or services valued under $1,000. A new conviction during the waiting period blocks shielding unless the new conviction itself becomes eligible for shielding, and a pending case disqualifies you.⁸

Some offenses appear on both the Section 10-110 expungement list and the Second Chance Act shielding list. If your conviction qualifies for full expungement, that is the stronger remedy.

How to File the Petition

The Maryland Judiciary offers a guided online interview that identifies the right form for your disposition. Form CC-DC-CR-072A covers acquittals, dismissals, PBJ, nolle prosequi, and stet. Form CC-DC-CR-072B covers guilty-disposition expungement.

File the completed petition with the clerk of the court where your case was heard. Include an extra copy for the State’s Attorney and one for each law enforcement agency named in the petition. Guilty-disposition cases carry a $30 fee per case (not per charge). All other disposition types are free.⁹

After filing, the State’s Attorney has 30 days to object. Under the Maryland Rules, silence during that window counts as agreement, and the court can grant the petition without a hearing. If the State’s Attorney or a law enforcement agency objects, the court schedules a hearing where you can present evidence about your conduct since the case, how the record has affected your life, and other factors relevant to the decision. Having an attorney at a contested hearing matters more for guilty-disposition petitions, where the outcome depends more on judicial discretion.¹

If the court grants the petition, it issues an expungement order. Police departments and other agencies then have 60 days from the order to remove your records. The case is also removed from Maryland Judiciary Case Search.¹⁰

What Expungement Does Not Reach

Once expunged, the case disappears from Maryland Judiciary Case Search, the system most employers, landlords, and members of the public use. You can legally say you were not arrested, charged, or convicted of the expunged offense when asked on job or housing applications. Three limits are worth knowing before you file.

FBI and Federal Records

A Maryland state court expungement order does not automatically clear your FBI criminal history. The FBI maintains its own records through the Criminal Justice Information Services division. Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is responsible for transmitting the expungement to the FBI, but delays and gaps in that process are not unusual. For federal employment, a security clearance, or anything that triggers an FBI background check, confirm directly that the federal record has been updated.¹¹

Immigration

For immigration purposes, an expunged conviction is still a conviction. USCIS policy is explicit that a state court action to expunge, vacate, or otherwise remove a guilty plea under a rehabilitative statute does not eliminate the underlying conviction in the immigration context. Applicants for naturalization, adjustment of status, or other immigration benefits must still disclose expunged offenses, and USCIS can move to obtain sealed records. If you have any immigration concerns, talk to an immigration attorney before filing. Expungement can also make it harder to obtain copies of your own records you may need for immigration proceedings.¹²

Private Background Check Databases

Your record may linger in commercial background check databases even after a successful expungement. These companies scrape court records on their own schedules. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has said consumer reporting agencies violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act when they report information that has been expunged, sealed, or otherwise restricted from public access. If an expunged record turns up in a background check, you can dispute it, and the reporting agency must remove it and ensure it does not reappear. Running your own background check through a major consumer reporting agency after expungement, and disputing any lingering entries, is the most reliable way to clean up private databases.¹³

1
Maryland General Assembly. 2025 Maryland Statutes Criminal Procedure Title 10 – Section 10-105
2
Maryland Courts. Expungement Part 2 – Other Eligible Dispositions Tip Sheet
3
Maryland Courts. Expungement Part 1 – Guilty Disposition Tip Sheet
4
Maryland Courts. List of Expungeable Charges Under Criminal Procedure Article 10-110
5
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Criminal Procedure Code Section 10-112
6
Maryland Courts. Expungement Part 3 – PBJ Tip Sheet
7
Maryland Courts. Guide for Shielding of MD Second Chance Act Records
8
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Criminal Procedure 10-301
9
Maryland Courts. Expungement (Adult)
10
Maryland Courts. Case Search – Frequently Asked Questions
11
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions
12
USCIS. Chapter 2 – Adjudicative Factors
13
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting; Background Screening