Quick answer: If your Annapolis charge is eligible under Maryland law, you can have the police and court records sealed from public view — and once that happens, they drop off routine background checks. Whether a charge qualifies depends on how the case ended and what the offense was, and one detail decides more petitions than any other: when charges come from the same arrest, they are treated as a single unit, and one ineligible charge can block every charge in that unit.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland criminal and traffic matters, including expungements for clients throughout Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
What Expungement Does — and Where You File in Annapolis
Expungement removes eligible police records, charging documents, and court entries from public access. After a record is expunged it stops appearing on Maryland Case Search and on the background checks most employers and landlords run, and in most situations you no longer have to disclose the arrest or charge on job, housing, or school applications. It is different from a case being closed: a dismissed charge stays visible until you actually file to clear it, which is why so many people are surprised to find an old, resolved case still showing up.
You file where the case was heard. Annapolis is the seat of Anne Arundel County, and both the District Court and the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County sit here, so most local matters are petitioned in one of those two courthouses. A District Court misdemeanor or traffic case is expunged through the District Court; a case that went to Circuit Court is petitioned there. If the case moved counties, the petition follows the court that actually handled it, and we can tell you exactly where each of yours belongs.
When an Annapolis Case Qualifies
Eligibility turns on how the case ended, the specific offense, and how much time has passed. Non-convictions are the easiest to clear. An acquittal, a dismissal, or a nolle prosequi can be expunged three years after the case ended under Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-105 — or immediately if you file a written general waiver and release of any tort claims from the charge. A stet is three years. Probation before judgment can be expunged at the later of your discharge from probation or three years after the PBJ was granted, so ending an 18-month probation early gains nothing; the three-year floor runs from the grant date either way.
Convictions follow a waiting ladder under § 10-110, measured from completion of the sentence — and “completion” includes any probation, parole, or mandatory supervision, so the clock starts later than most people assume. A new conviction during the waiting period disqualifies the original case rather than just pausing it.
| How the case ended | Waiting period before you can file |
|---|---|
| Acquittal, dismissal, or nolle prosequi | 3 years — or immediately with a tort waiver |
| Stet docket | 3 years |
| Probation before judgment (most offenses) | Later of discharge or 3 years from the grant |
| PBJ for DUI/DWI under § 21-902(a) or (b) | 15 years from discharge |
| Most eligible convictions | 5 years from completing the sentence |
| Second-degree assault or common-law battery | 7 years |
| Eligible felonies (theft, burglary, PWID) | 7 to 10 years |
| Fully clean cases (all charges dismissed/acquitted) | Automatic after 3 years |
Not every charge is on the eligible list. Most misdemeanors qualify, along with a handful of felonies, but serious traffic offenses like reckless driving and most DUI convictions under § 21-902 do not. Fully clean cases where every charge was dismissed or acquitted are cleared automatically after three years under § 10-105.1 — but that only reaches cases where nothing was left unresolved, which is why plenty of dismissed charges still need a petition. If your case involved a DUI, our Maryland DUI defense team can walk through what is and isn’t reachable, and our guide to expungement waiting periods breaks the full ladder down.
Filing is inexpensive relative to what it clears: the Maryland Judiciary charges nothing for a dismissal, acquittal, PBJ, or nolle prosequi petition, and a flat $30 per case for an eligible guilty disposition — waivable if you can’t afford it.
One ineligible charge can block the rest. Under Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-107, charges from the same arrest or incident are treated as a single unit, so if even one of them is not eligible, none of the charges in that unit can be expunged. It is the most common reason a Annapolis expungement petition is denied. Which offenses qualify is set by § 10-110 for convictions and § 10-105 for dismissals, acquittals, and PBJs. See which Maryland convictions can be expunged or the full Maryland expungement guide.
Can You Clear Several Cases at Once?
This is where a common assumption gets it exactly backwards. People often think charges from the same arrest are easier to wipe out together. The opposite is true. Because the unit rule groups everything from one incident into a single block, related charges rise and fall together — and a single ineligible charge stops all the others from being cleared, no matter how minor they were.
Say you were arrested once and charged with two offenses; one is eligible and the other is not. You cannot pick off the eligible one and leave the rest — the ineligible charge blocks the whole unit. There is a narrow carve-out: a genuinely minor traffic violation, one that carries no possible jail time, does not drag the unit down. But jailable offenses — driving while suspended, driving without a license, reckless driving, DUI — are not “minor” here, and any one of them can sink an otherwise clean group. Separate cases from separate incidents are judged on their own facts, so several unrelated matters can be petitioned in parallel. Mapping which of your cases group together and which stand alone is the first thing we do.
How We Handle Your Annapolis Petition
We start by pulling your full Maryland record, not just the case you came in about, because most people have entries they’ve forgotten or never knew were still visible. Then we sort every charge into units, confirm which are eligible now and which still have a waiting period to run, and file the right petitions in the right courts. The State’s Attorney or a victim has 30 days from service to object; if no one does, the court must pass the order. If a case is contested we appear and argue eligibility, and once an order is granted every record custodian has 60 days to comply — which is why even a clean, unopposed petition takes a few months end to end.
Most expungement problems trace back to underlying traffic or court matters, so if your record includes driving offenses it’s worth talking to an Anne Arundel County traffic lawyer early. You can read more about how the Maryland expungement process works, or about the limited early-expungement options for non-convictions. For the rest of your record, we handle the full range of Maryland criminal defense work.
Serving Annapolis and Anne Arundel County
We represent clients across Annapolis and the surrounding Anne Arundel County communities, and we know both the local courthouse procedures and the statewide rules behind them. Whether your case was heard in the District or Circuit Court in Annapolis, started elsewhere in the county, or spanned several jurisdictions, we can tell you what can be cleared now, what will qualify later, and what can’t be removed. If you’re at the north end of the county, we also serve clients through our Glen Burnie expungement page. Old records shouldn’t keep costing you jobs and opportunities, and you don’t have to sort this out alone.
Common Questions
If your charge is eligible under Maryland law, yes. The petition is filed in the court that heard your Annapolis case, and the rules are the same statewide. Whether a specific charge qualifies depends on how the case ended and the offense itself.
For most eligible convictions the wait is five years from the completion of the sentence, including any probation. Some offenses run three, seven, ten, or fifteen years, and many dismissals and acquittals can be cleared after three years or right away with a waiver.
Yes. Under the unit rule, charges from the same incident are treated as a group, so a single ineligible charge can stop the rest from being expunged. Sorting out which charges qualify is the first thing to check.
Law Offices of David R. Waranch — 301-563-9575 · toll-free 1-877-566-2408. Hablamos Español.
Last updated: August 2026. Statutory references: Md. Code, Crim. Proc. §§ 10-105, 10-105.1, 10-107, 10-110; Md. Code, Transp. § 21-902. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.