Driving while intoxicated, buzzed driving, impaired driving and driving under the influence are all very serious charges as they can result in an accident, serious injury and wrongful death. With that Maryland is a tough state on drunk, buzzed and intoxicated drivers. Maryland police officers and Maryland state troopers, are very aggressive on drunk driving arrests. MD has one of the higher amount of DUI arrests out of all the states in the country per capita. That said, we are also one of the only states that has a first-time offender program which, for first-time offenders, there is a possibility on getting the case dismissed and having the DUI arrest expunged from the person’s criminal history, depending on the person’s past, that the person has no prior DUIs or no prior convictions in their past, and depending on factors on the actual DUI incident itself.
However, with multiple offense DUIs, meaning second or third DUIs the last ten years, Maryland is very, very tough on second- or third-time offenders. This is due to the Maryland look back period law. Second-time offenders can face a mandatory minimum of 90 days, up to five years in jail, on a second offense DUI in the last ten years, and if you have a third DUI in the last ten years, you could be facing possible one-year to five-year state sentence, which is extremely, extremely severe.