Quick answer: If a Silver Spring case ended in acquittal, dismissal, nolle prosequi, or a stet, or with a probation before judgment or an eligible conviction, you can petition to have the court and police records removed from public view — but Maryland never does it automatically for a case that involved a guilty finding, and one ineligible charge from the same arrest can block everything filed with it. The fix is to check eligibility against the statute before you file, in the court that handled the case.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland cases in Montgomery County and across the state. This page explains what expungement actually clears in Silver Spring, who qualifies, and the mistakes that get petitions denied.
What Expungement Clears in Silver Spring
Expungement removes eligible court and police records from public access. Once a Maryland court grants it, the entry drops off Maryland Judiciary Case Search, and most routine background checks for employment, housing, and licensing no longer show it. In most situations you are then allowed to answer that the matter did not occur.
The catch that surprises most Silver Spring clients is that nothing clears on its own. A dismissed charge, a not-guilty verdict, even a case transferred to juvenile court still sits on Case Search until you file a petition and a judge signs the order. The one narrow exception is automatic expungement, which the Judiciary applies on its own after three years to certain fully clean cases — but it fails if any charge in the case ended in anything other than acquittal, dismissal, not guilty, or nolle prosequi, which is exactly why so many dismissed cases still appear online. You can read how that works on our Maryland automatic expungement page.
Who Qualifies, and How Long You Wait
Eligibility turns on how your case ended. Non-convictions are the easiest to clear. Under Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 10-105, an acquittal, dismissal, or nolle prosequi can be expunged three years after the disposition — or immediately if you file a written general waiver and release of any tort claims from the charge. A stet waits three years. A probation before judgment can be expunged 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 still applies.
Convictions are narrower. Section 10-110 lists the convictions that can be expunged and sets a waiting period measured from completion of the sentence — and “completion” includes any probation, parole, or mandatory supervision, so the clock starts later than most people expect. There is no early-filing or good-cause shortcut for a conviction; the ladder is the ladder. A new conviction during the waiting period disqualifies the original.
| Disposition | Waiting period (from completion of sentence) |
|---|---|
| Acquittal / dismissal / nolle prosequi (§ 10-105) | 3 years, or now with a tort waiver |
| Probation before judgment (§ 10-105) | Later of discharge or 3 years from grant |
| PWID cannabis conviction (Crim. Law § 5-602) | 3 years |
| General eligible conviction | 5 years |
| Second-degree assault, common-law battery | 7 years |
| Eligible felonies generally | 7 years |
| First/second-degree burglary, felony theft | 10 years |
| Domestically related crime (§ 6-233) | 15 years |
For a plain-English walk through the ladder, see our Maryland expungement waiting periods guide, or the full list of Maryland convictions that you can expunge. DUI and DWI dispositions carry their own rules, covered on can I expunge a Maryland DUI or DWI conviction.
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 Silver Spring 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.
The Unit Rule Is Where Most Petitions Fail
This is the point the old version of this page had backwards. Charges from the same arrest are not easier to clear together — they are harder. Section 10-107 groups them into a unit, and the statute is blunt about the consequence:
“If a person is not entitled to expungement of one charge or conviction in a unit, the person is not entitled to expungement of any other charge or conviction in the unit.”
So if you were arrested in Silver Spring and charged with, say, a driving-while-suspended count alongside a dismissed count, the suspended-license charge — which is jailable and often not eligible — can drag the dismissed charge down with it. The narrow carve-out is only for a minor traffic violation, meaning a nonincarcerable one, or possession of cannabis under Crim. Law § 5-601. Speeding or an equipment ticket in the mix is harmless. Driving while suspended, driving without a license, reckless driving, and DUI are all jailable, so they join the unit and can block everything else. That is why the first step is always to map the whole arrest, not just the charge you want gone.
Where Silver Spring Cases Are Filed
You file where the case was heard. Silver Spring sits in Montgomery County, and most misdemeanor and traffic matters there run through the District Court of Maryland, which holds Montgomery County sessions in both Silver Spring and Rockville; serious cases and appeals go to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Rockville. Section 10-110 requires the petition to be filed in the court where the proceeding began — or the transferee court if the case moved, or the appellate court if it was appealed. Filing in the wrong court is a routine, avoidable reason for delay.
The timeline runs on two statutory clocks. The State’s Attorney, and any victim entitled to notice, has 30 days after being served to object; if no one does, the court must pass the order. Every agency holding the records then has 60 days to comply and confirm in writing. The “90 days” people cite is just those two windows added together. If someone does object, the court holds a hearing and must find on the record that the person and the offense are eligible, that any restitution is paid or cannot be paid, and that expungement serves the interest of justice. Unpaid restitution on its own will sink a contested petition. Our how the Maryland expungement process works page walks through each step, and you can review your service options on our Montgomery County expungement page.
What It Costs
The court’s filing fee depends on how the case ended. There is no charge to petition an acquittal, dismissal, nolle prosequi, stet, or PBJ. Expunging an eligible guilty disposition costs $30 per case — not per charge — set by the Maryland Judiciary, nonrefundable even if the petition is denied, and waivable if you cannot afford it. That fee is separate from anything you pay a lawyer, and it is small next to the cost of a record that keeps surfacing on background checks. Expungement sits within our broader Maryland criminal defense practice, so if there are related open matters we can look at the whole picture at once.
Common Questions
You file a petition in the court that handled your Silver Spring case. If no one objects within thirty days, the court orders the expungement, and the agencies holding the records have sixty days to comply.
There is no filing fee for a dismissal, acquittal, or probation-before-judgment. Expunging an eligible guilty disposition carries a thirty-dollar fee per case, which can be waived if you cannot afford it.
Yes. The unit rule treats charges from the same incident as one group, so a single ineligible charge can block the others. That is the first thing to review before filing.
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. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.