Workgroup to Study Adoption of a Statute for Assault in the Third Degree
Summary
SB 873 creates a new misdemeanor offense of assault in the third degree in Maryland law. The bill defines “offensive contact” as nonconsensual physical contact that a reasonable person would find offensive, while excluding contact that causes physical injury, creates a risk of serious physical injury, or falls within domestically related crimes or sexual crimes. A person may be convicted for intentionally causing offensive contact, acting to place another in fear of offensive contact, or attempting to cause offensive contact. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.
The bill also makes conforming changes to charging, jurisdiction, and expungement laws. It states that third-degree assault is not a lesser included offense of any other crime unless specifically charged, gives the District Court exclusive original jurisdiction over most third-degree assault cases, and limits circuit court jurisdiction except in jury trial, appeal, or related-offense situations. It also adds the new offense to the list of convictions eligible for expungement after the applicable waiting period and removes the prior reference to assault in the second degree from that expungement provision. In addition, the bill creates a temporary workgroup to study whether Maryland should adopt a third-degree assault statute and to report recommendations and draft legislation by December 1, 2026.
Impact
SB 873 would amend the Criminal Law, Courts and Judicial Proceedings, and Criminal Procedure Articles of the Maryland Code. It adds a new statutory assault offense, changes how prosecutors must charge it, assigns primary trial jurisdiction to the District Court, and updates expungement eligibility to include convictions under the new section. The bill also establishes a legislatively appointed workgroup to study the broader policy and legal implications of codifying third-degree assault and to recommend whether further legislation should be enacted.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests strong support for the bill: it passed third reading in the Senate unanimously, 44-0. The bill was reported favorably with amendments by committee, and there are no recorded committee transcript excerpts indicating opposition in the provided materials. Overall, the sentiment appears broadly favorable and noncontroversial in the recorded action history.
Contention
The main policy issues embedded in the bill concern how broadly to define assault, how to distinguish third-degree assault from existing assault and related offenses, and how the new offense should be handled procedurally in court. The bill specifically excludes domestically related crimes and sexual crimes from the definition of offensive contact, which suggests an effort to avoid overlap with more serious or specialized offenses. Another point of potential contention is the expungement and jurisdiction changes, since those provisions affect defendants’ access to record relief and the division of authority between District and circuit courts. The creation of a study workgroup also indicates that lawmakers viewed some aspects of the proposal as needing further examination before any permanent broader reform.