Quick answer: Driving while revoked in Prince George’s County is a criminal misdemeanor under Md. Code, Transp. § 16-303(d), carrying up to 1 year in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first offense, up to 2 years for a second offense within three years, and 12 points on your record. It is a must-appear charge — there is no fine to prepay and no way to handle it by mail. A Prince George’s County driving while revoked lawyer can often challenge whether you knew about the revocation, negotiate the charge down, or secure probation before judgment so nothing goes on your record.
I’m David Waranch, and I’ve handled thousands of Maryland traffic cases, including revoked-license charges in the Prince George’s County District Court in Upper Marlboro and Hyattsville and in the Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro.
What Does Driving While Revoked Mean in Maryland?
A revoked license is terminated, not paused — and that is what separates it from a suspension. A suspended license is withdrawn for a set period and comes back once you meet the conditions and pay the fees. A revoked license is gone. When the revocation period ends, you do not simply get your license back; you have to apply to the Maryland MVA for a brand-new one, and the MVA can turn the application down. Because revocation is the more serious status, driving on a revoked license is treated as the more serious offense.
The charge lives in Md. Code, Transp. § 16-303. Subsection (d) is the Maryland revoked provision; subsection (c) is the suspended one. If your license was suspended rather than revoked, the analysis and the penalties are different, and our Prince George’s County driving while suspended lawyer page covers that charge. If it was cancelled, see driving on a cancelled license in Maryland.
“A person may not drive a motor vehicle on any highway… while the person’s license or privilege to drive is revoked in this State.” — Md. Code, Transp. § 16-303(d)
Licenses usually get revoked for the serious things: a DUI or DWI conviction, accumulating 12 or more points, a Medical Advisory Board finding, or an offense that carries mandatory revocation such as certain hit-and-run cases. Whatever the reason, the criminal charge for driving afterward and the underlying MVA status are two separate problems, and a real defense has to deal with both.
What Are the Penalties for Driving While Revoked in Prince George’s County?
Driving while revoked is a jailable misdemeanor, and the exposure climbs fast if you already have one on your record. Here is how the general tier under § 16-303(k)(1) breaks down, along with the points the MVA assesses on conviction.
| Offense | Maximum jail | Maximum fine | Points | Ticket type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First offense | 1 year | $1,000 | 12 | Must-appear |
| Second or subsequent within 3 years | 2 years | $1,000 | 12 | Must-appear |
The 12 points come from Md. Code, Transp. § 16-402(a)(37), which assesses 12 points for any § 16-303 violation outside the lesser (h) and (i) categories. Twelve points is the threshold the MVA can use to revoke a license on its own, so a conviction here can put a license you are trying to earn back even further out of reach. For how the tiers work, see Maryland’s point system in a nutshell.
There is a second cost that catches people off guard. Under § 16-402(c), if you are convicted of any moving violation while your license is revoked, the MVA can extend the revocation itself — up to 1 year for a first violation, 18 months for a second, and 2 years for a third or later one, measured from the date of the violation. So a conviction does not just add jail and fine exposure; it can push back the very date you become eligible to reapply. On top of that come the insurance increases and, for anyone holding a commercial license, the CDL consequences that follow a serious traffic conviction.
“I’ll just pay the ticket and move on.” You can’t. Driving while revoked is a must-appear charge — there is no prepay box and no way to settle it by mail. You have to appear in the Upper Marlboro or Hyattsville District Court, and skipping the date can bring a bench warrant. Showing up with a lawyer is the only real way to protect your record and your path back to a license.
What If You Didn’t Know Your License Was Revoked?
This is one of the most common — and most useful — facts in a revoked-license case. Many drivers genuinely do not know. The MVA mails its notices to the address on file, and if you moved, the notice may have gone somewhere you never saw. Other cases come from finishing every requirement but never filing the reapplication, from a medical review that dragged on, or from a stale or mistaken entry in the MVA’s own records.
Why it matters: the State generally has to prove you were on notice of the revocation. When the notice went astray or the record is wrong, that element is open to challenge. The first thing I do is pull your full driving record from the MVA, line it up against the charge, and find the gaps. Correcting an MVA error can change the whole case, and it is also the first step toward getting back on the road — our guide on how to restore a Maryland driver’s license walks through what that takes.
How a Prince George’s County Lawyer Defends a Revoked Charge
Every revoked case has two moving parts — the criminal charge in court and the MVA status behind it — and both have to be handled. There is no single script, but these are the tools I reach for most:
- Challenge the stop. If the officer lacked a lawful reason to pull you over, the evidence that flows from the stop can be suppressed.
- Attack the notice element. Where the record shows the revocation notice went to an old address or the MVA entry is wrong, the State may not be able to prove you knew.
- Fix the MVA record and reinstate. Clearing the underlying status, or getting you eligible to reapply, often does more for the client than anything that happens in the courtroom.
- Negotiate a reduction. Where the facts allow, a revoked charge can sometimes be resolved as a lesser offense that carries fewer points and no jail.
- Seek probation before judgment. Under Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 6-220, a completed PBJ is not a conviction, so it carries no points. There is no DUI-style bar on PBJ for this charge, which makes it a genuine option.
If the case involves an MVA hearing over your revocation or a possible extension, knowing what that process looks like helps — our page on Maryland MVA hearings and what to expect lays it out. And because this is a must-appear charge, do not assume it works like a payable ticket; payable vs. must-appear tickets in Maryland explains the difference and why it matters here.
Where Prince George’s County Revoked Cases Are Heard
Revoked-license charges from across the county are handled in the Prince George’s County District Court, which sits in Upper Marlboro and Hyattsville; a case can move to the Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro if you pray a jury trial. We defend drivers stopped throughout the county — Hyattsville, Upper Marlboro, Bowie, College Park, Laurel, Greenbelt, Largo, and Clinton — and the stops most often come off the busy corridors: I-95/495 (the Capital Beltway), US-301, and MD-210 (Indian Head Highway).
For any other traffic matter in the county, start with our Prince George’s County traffic lawyer page.
Yes. Driving while revoked under Md. Code, Transp. 16-303(d) is a criminal misdemeanor, not a payable ticket. It is a must-appear charge, so you have to go to court in Upper Marlboro or Hyattsville, and a first-offense conviction can carry up to 1 year in jail, a $1,000 fine, and 12 points.
A suspended license is temporarily withdrawn and is restored once you meet the conditions and pay the fees. A revoked license is terminated, so after the revocation period you must apply to the MVA for a new license, and the MVA can refuse. Revocation is the more serious status, and driving on it is the more serious offense.
Yes. Under Md. Code, Transp. 16-402(c), if you are convicted of a moving violation while your license is revoked, the MVA can extend the revocation before you can reapply, up to 1 year for a first violation, 18 months for a second, and 2 years for a third or later one. A lawyer can fight both the criminal charge and the extension at an MVA hearing.
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, Transp. §§ 16-303, 16-402; Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 6-220. This page is general information about Maryland law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.