Criminal Procedure - Expungement - No Finding and Case Terminated Without Finding
Summary
HB610 expands Maryland’s expungement law by allowing certain charges to be expunged when they were not resolved by an unequivocal conviction, but instead were marked by the court as “no finding” or were part of a case terminated without finding. The bill adds a new subsection to Criminal Procedure § 10-110 to make clear that these dispositions qualify for expungement, so long as the underlying charge is otherwise among the offenses already eligible under the statute.
The bill does not create a new expungement category for all cases; rather, it clarifies that specific non-conviction outcomes can be treated as expungeable. It applies to a broad list of misdemeanor and felony offenses already enumerated in Maryland law, including certain drug, property, public safety, and other offenses, as well as attempts, conspiracies, and solicitations of those offenses. The act takes effect October 1, 2025.
Impact
HB610 amends Maryland Criminal Procedure Article § 10-110 by adding subsection (j), which broadens access to expungement for people whose charges ended in a court “no finding” designation or in a case terminated without finding. This change affects court records, police records, and other state or local records eligible for expungement, and it may benefit defendants seeking to clear records after non-conviction dispositions. The bill leaves the existing list of eligible offenses intact while expanding the procedural circumstances under which those charges may be expunged.
Sentiment
The available legislative record suggests strong support for the bill. It received a favorable committee report and passed the House on third reading by a wide margin, 133 yeas to 5 nays. No committee transcript is available here, but the vote pattern indicates broad agreement with the measure’s expungement expansion.
Contention
The main policy issue is the scope of record-clearing relief for charges that did not end in a conviction. Supporters appear to favor giving people relief when a court has entered a no-finding outcome or terminated a case without finding, while any opposition likely centers on concerns about limiting public access to criminal records or expanding expungement beyond traditional conviction-based standards. Because the bill preserves the underlying offense eligibility rules, the dispute is less about which crimes qualify and more about whether these specific non-conviction dispositions should be treated the same as other expungeable outcomes.