Maryland: Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility
The short answer
Maryland permits petition-based expungement for a specifically enumerated list of misdemeanors, limited felonies, and attempts, conspiracies, or solicitations of those offenses. The waiting period runs from completion of the sentence and is generally 5 years for a misdemeanor, 7 years for second-degree assault, common-law battery, or most eligible felonies, 10 years for specified burglary and felony-theft convictions, and 15 years for a domestically related crime; possession with intent to distribute cannabis has a 3-year period. Expungement removes the record from public inspection, but a court may authorize access for good cause or an urgent law-enforcement investigation.
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This is the general rule in Maryland. Ezel applies current Maryland law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Relief name and legal effect | Expungement removes information from public inspection by obliteration, secure separation, or removal of the record that provides access; it does not promise destruction in every case (§ 10-101(e)–(f)). |
|---|---|
| Automatic or clean-slate relief | No general automatic relief for adult convictions in this survey. Section 10-110 requires a petition; cannabis-only repository expungement under § 10-112 is outside scope (§§ 10-110(a)–(b), 10-112). |
| Convictions eligible by petition | A closed statutory list of misdemeanors, limited theft, controlled-substance possession-with-intent, and specified burglary felonies, plus attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of a listed offense (§ 10-110(a)). |
| Excluded offenses and statuses | Convictions outside § 10-110(a)'s list are excluded. An ineligible charge or conviction in the same unit blocks the unit; a pending criminal proceeding also bars relief, and a new crime during the clock blocks relief unless the new conviction becomes eligible (§§ 10-107, 10-110(d)). |
| Waiting period and when it starts | From completion of sentence: 5 years generally; 7 years for second-degree assault, common-law battery, or most eligible felonies; 15 years for a domestically related crime; 3 years for cannabis possession with intent; 10 years for specified burglary or felony theft (§§ 10-101(c), 10-110(c)). |
| Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions | Completion includes expiration of probation, parole, and mandatory supervision. At a contested hearing, restitution must be paid or the person must lack ability to pay; no pending criminal case, and no disqualifying new crime during the waiting period (§§ 10-101(c), 10-110(d), (f)). |
| Petition process and decision standard | File in the originating, transferee, or appellate court as applicable. State's Attorney and victims receive notice and have 30 days to object; no objection requires an order. After objection, the court must grant if eligibility, public safety, restitution, and interests-of-justice findings are made (§ 10-110(b), (e)–(i)). |
| Who can still see or use the record | The record leaves public inspection. Opening, review, or disclosure requires a court order after notice and good cause, or an ex parte order for an urgent pending investigation; employers, schools, and state or local licensing/service authorities may not require expunged-charge information (§§ 10-101(f), 10-108, 10-109). |
| Boundaries and alternative relief | This page covers conviction expungement under § 10-110. Juvenile, nonconviction, pardon, cannabis-only mass relief, innocence, federal, tribal, military, out-of-state, and the narrower shielding remedy are outside this survey. |
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Requirements one by one
Relief name and legal effect
Maryland calls the remedy expungement, but the statutory definition is
removal from public inspection. That may occur by obliteration, by moving the
record to a secure area, or by removing the other record that provides access.
It therefore does not mean every underlying record is necessarily destroyed.
Automatic or clean-slate relief
Section 10-110 requires the person to petition the proper court. Maryland did
complete a separate, cannabis-only Central Repository process under § 10-112,
but that special mass-relief program is outside this survey's general adult-
conviction scope.
Convictions eligible by petition
Eligibility follows the section's exact list, not a rule that all
misdemeanors or all nonviolent convictions qualify. Section 10-110(a) names a
long set of misdemeanors, limited felonies involving theft, controlled-
substance possession with intent, and specified burglary provisions, plus an
attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of a listed offense.
Excluded offenses and statuses
An unlisted conviction is outside the general conviction-expungement route.
Maryland also treats charges from the same incident, transaction, or facts as
a unit. Under current § 10-107, one ineligible charge or conviction blocks
expungement of the others, subject to the minor-traffic and cannabis rules.
A pending criminal proceeding makes the person ineligible. A new crime during
the applicable waiting period also blocks the earlier conviction unless the
new conviction becomes eligible for expungement.
Waiting period and when it starts
All clocks start at completion of the sentence, which § 10-101 defines to
include expiration of probation, parole, and mandatory supervision:
- 5 years for the general eligible category;
- 7 years for second-degree assault, common-law battery, and most eligible
felonies; - 15 years for an offense classified as a domestically related crime;
- 3 years for possession with intent to distribute cannabis; and
- 10 years for the specified burglary provisions and felony theft.
Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions
At a contested hearing, the court must find that court-ordered monetary
restitution was paid or that the person lacks ability to pay it. The
statute does not turn inability to pay restitution into an automatic denial.
The separate pending-case and new-crime rules still apply.
Petition process and decision standard
The petition goes to the court where the proceeding began, with transfer and
appeal exceptions in § 10-110(b). The court serves the State's Attorney and
sends each listed victim notice. Either may object within 30 days.
Without an objection, the court must enter the expungement order. With a timely
objection, the court holds a hearing and must grant relief if it makes the
required eligibility, public-safety, restitution, and interests-of-justice
findings. Unless stayed on appeal, each records custodian must report compliance
within 60 days after the order.
Who can still see or use the record
Section 10-108 generally prohibits opening, reviewing, or disclosing an
expunged record without a court order. A court may authorize access after
notice, a hearing, and good cause. It may also issue a limited ex parte order
when a State's Attorney verifies that an urgent pending criminal investigation
needs the record; that order may not allow a copy.
Section 10-109 bars employers and educational institutions, as well as state
or local licensing and service authorities, from requiring expunged-charge
information in an application or interview. The state statute does not promise
removal from every federal or private database.
What trips people up
The offense list controls. A familiar offense label is not enough; the
exact statutory citation must appear in § 10-110(a).
The unit rule can block an otherwise listed offense. A related ineligible
charge prevents relief for the rest of the unit under current law.
A signed 2026 change is not effective yet. Chapter 465 takes effect October
1, 2026. It creates a targeted exception for cases marked “no finding” or
“terminated without finding”; until then, the current unit rule above remains
the law.
Common questions
Does inability to pay restitution automatically defeat the petition? No.
At a contested hearing, § 10-110(f) permits the required finding when
restitution was paid or the person lacks ability to pay.
Is a hearing always required? No. A hearing follows a timely objection by
the State's Attorney or a victim. Without an objection, the statute directs the
court to enter an order.
Does expungement guarantee that every copy disappears? No. Maryland defines
the remedy as removal from public inspection and permits narrowly ordered
access under § 10-108.
Statutes and sources
- Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-101 — sentence-completion and expungement
definitions.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-101
(accessed 2026-07-19) - Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-107 — unit-of-charges rule.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-107
(accessed 2026-07-19) - Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-108 — court-ordered and emergency access.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-108
(accessed 2026-07-19) - Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-109 — disclosure and application protections.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-109
(accessed 2026-07-19) - Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-110 — conviction list, clocks, conditions, notice,
hearing, decision standard, and compliance.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-110
(accessed 2026-07-19) - Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-112 — completed cannabis-only repository process.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gcp§ion=10-112
(accessed 2026-07-19) - 2026 Md. Laws ch. 465 (SB 320) — future unit-rule exception, effective
October 1, 2026.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/chapters_noln/Ch_465_sb0320T.pdf
(checked 2026-07-19)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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