Quick answer: Maryland does expunge some cases automatically. Under Criminal Procedure § 10-105.1, a qualifying case is removed from public view three years after disposition with no petition and no fee. But the rule is all-or-nothing: it only reaches a case in which every charge ended in acquittal, dismissal, a not-guilty verdict, or nolle prosequi, and it does not touch Transportation Article violations you were never required to appear on. If even one charge in the case ended any other way, the whole case sits there — which is exactly why so many people find a “dismissed” charge still showing on Maryland Judiciary Case Search years later.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland traffic and criminal cases. Automatic expungement is one of the most misunderstood parts of the law — people assume “dismissed” means “gone,” and are surprised when it isn’t.
How Maryland’s Automatic Expungement Works
Automatic expungement is a separate track from the petition process most people picture. You do not draft anything, file anything, or appear in court. When a case qualifies, Crim. Proc. § 10-105.1 directs the courts to expunge it on their own three years after the disposition, and it costs nothing. It runs quietly in the background — which is also the reason people never realize their case failed to qualify until they check.
The statute is narrow on purpose. It reaches cases that ended cleanly and leaves everything else to the ordinary petition route. Two limits do most of the work. First, it applies to charges other than Transportation Article violations you were not required to appear on — meaning ordinary payable traffic citations are outside the system entirely, because they were never criminal cases to begin with. Second, and more important, it is all-or-nothing across the whole case.
Why a Dismissed Case Still Shows on Case Search
This is the part that catches people off guard. Automatic expungement fails if any single charge in the case ended in something other than acquittal, dismissal, a not-guilty verdict, or nolle prosequi — with a narrow exception for nolle prosequi that came with a treatment requirement. A charge that ended in a conviction, in probation before judgment, or in a stet keeps the entire case from auto-expunging, even if the charge you actually care about was dismissed.
So picture a common arrest: two charges from the same night. One is nolle prossed, the other ends in a guilty plea. The dismissed-side charge looks eligible on its face, but because it shares a case with a conviction, § 10-105.1 never fires. Three years pass, nothing happens, and you pull up Maryland Judiciary Case Search to find both charges still there. The system did not fail — the case simply never qualified, because automatic expungement only covers cases that are fully clean from top to bottom.
When that happens, the fix is a filed petition rather than the automatic track. A mixed-disposition case can often still be cleared, but it takes an active request under the regular rules — which brings its own eligibility ladder and, for a guilty disposition, a filing fee. That is the whole subject of how the Maryland expungement process works and the waiting periods that apply to convictions, both of which are longer and more involved than the quiet three-year clock.
| Your case | Auto-expunges at 3 years? | What clears it |
|---|---|---|
| Every charge dismissed, acquitted, not guilty, or nolle prossed | Yes — automatically | § 10-105.1, no petition and no fee |
| One charge dismissed, another ended in a conviction, PBJ, or stet | No | File a petition on the eligible charges; conviction rules and fees apply |
| A must-appear traffic charge that was dismissed (case otherwise clean) | Yes — automatically | § 10-105.1, three years after disposition |
| A payable citation you paid (never a criminal case) | Not applicable | Nothing to expunge — it lives on the MVA driving record |
“Dismissed” doesn’t mean “gone.” A single non-qualifying charge — a conviction, a probation-before-judgment, or a stet — anywhere in the case stops the entire case from auto-expunging, no matter how favorable your own charge’s outcome was. A mixed-disposition case will keep showing on Case Search until someone files a petition for it. Do not assume the three-year clock will handle it; check, and if it’s mixed, treat it as a petition case.
Traffic Charges and the Three-Year Clock
Traffic cases split into two worlds here, and the dividing line is whether you had to appear. A payable citation — ordinary speeding, most equipment offenses — was never in the criminal system at all, so there is nothing for automatic expungement to reach. Worse, if you paid it, you pleaded guilty and created a conviction on your driving record, which is a different record entirely. I explain that split in detail in Maryland driving record versus criminal record, and why you cannot expunge a speeding ticket in Maryland at all.
A must-appear traffic charge is the opposite. A jailable charge — driving while suspended, driving without a license, and the like — is prosecuted as a criminal case and shows on Case Search. If that charge was dismissed and it was the only thing in the case, § 10-105.1 will expunge it automatically three years out, no filing required. The catch is the same all-or-nothing rule: pair that dismissed charge with any conviction from the same incident and the automatic track shuts off, and you are back to a petition. For which charges can actually be cleared and how, see the Maryland convictions you can expunge.
What to Do If Your Case Won’t Auto-Expunge
Start by checking Case Search yourself. If a case you expected to clear is still visible more than three years after disposition, it almost always means the case was mixed — one charge broke the clean-sweep requirement. That is not the end of the road; it just means a petition is the right tool. Depending on the dispositions, you may even be able to move sooner than the standard waiting periods through early expungement.
The mistake I most want you to avoid is waiting years on a clock that was never running. If you are not certain whether your case qualifies — or you have already passed the three-year mark and it’s still showing — that is a five-minute question worth asking. Our full expungement knowledge hub walks through the rest, and a quick call can tell you which track your case belongs on.
Common Questions
Automatic expungement is a track under Criminal Procedure Section 10-105.1 in which the courts remove a qualifying case from public inspection three years after disposition, with no petition to file and no fee. You do not have to do anything. It only reaches cases in which every charge ended in acquittal, dismissal, a not-guilty verdict, or nolle prosequi, and it does not cover Transportation Article violations you were not required to appear on, such as ordinary payable tickets.
Almost always because the case was mixed. Automatic expungement is all-or-nothing across the entire case, so if any single charge ended in a conviction, a probation before judgment, or a stet, the whole case fails to auto-expunge even though your own charge was dismissed. Nothing happens at the three-year mark, and both charges keep showing on Maryland Judiciary Case Search. The case can usually still be cleared, but it requires a filed petition rather than the automatic track.
It depends on whether you had to appear. A payable citation like speeding was never a criminal case, so there is nothing to auto-expunge, and paying it created a conviction on your driving record instead. A must-appear traffic charge, such as driving while suspended, is prosecuted as a criminal case, and if it was dismissed and was the only charge in the case, Section 10-105.1 will expunge it automatically three years later. Pair it with any conviction from the same incident and the automatic track shuts off.
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. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.