Police officers from all over the state are being deployed to Ocean City this weekend to keep the peace at one of the largest pop-up car rallys in the region. Each year at the end of September car owners and enthusiasts flock to Ocean City to socialize, drive and watch…
The 2020 Maryland legislative session came and went without much fanfare, as any news coming out of Annapolis was largely overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, there were some interesting criminal law developments that came at the tail end of the shortened session. For the last few years we have…
As the Maryland criminal code continues to evolve with the times there is an increasing need to address the issue of expungement. Maryland has a fair and user-friendly expungement process, and in most cases, there is no fee to apply. Lawmakers already did away with the $30 application fee for…
The Maryland governor has not been shy about his strong desire to do whatever is necessary to curb gun violence in Baltimore City, and he recently called out state lawmakers for dragging their feet on enacting stricter gun legislation. Since the 2020 legislative session began in January there have been…
The Maryland Senate and the House of Delegates recently cross-filled the Violent Firearms Offenders Act, and it is almost certain that a large portion of the bill will become law in October. The bill aims to toughen penalties for certain firearms offenses that were seen as too lenient in light…
The 2020 Maryland legislative session is set to kick off this week and there are a host of criminal law issues that will be debated in Annapolis. While it’s too early to tell exactly the kind of bills that may cross the governor’s desk in April, it’s never too early…
This past summer the Maryland Governor signed off on a bill that changed the definition of marijuana, and now the impacts of this bill could have a real effect in courtrooms across the state. The bill did not receive much media attention despite the fact that it was marijuana related…
The 2019 Maryland legislative session has come to an end, and unlike previous years where marijuana was decriminalized or mandatory prison sentences for certain drug offenses were effectively discarded, there will be no drastic changes to the criminal code come October. While not headline makers, lawmakers did successfully address some…
While marijuana laws have changed drastically over the last several years the legislature has largely avoided the subject of tobacco. The state has regularly raised taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products in order to dissuade use, but no major tobacco legislation has crossed the governor’s desk in years. That…
As it became more likely that medical marijuana would soon be legal in Maryland, lawmakers simultaneously realized they needed to modify the criminal laws regarding marijuana possession. Amongst other reasons, it just didn’t make sense to subject a person to criminal prosecution and possible jail time for possessing a substance…