Basic Guide to Maryland Drunk Driving (DUI/DWI) Laws
Warning: Drunk Driving charges in Maryland are serious and involve many court deadlines that maƒ affect your rights. If you have been charged with an alcohol motoring offense, do not delay: if you do not have an attorney, please call us at 410-561-6061 or, if you cannot afford private legal representation due to income, call the Public Defender to find out how to register with that office.
Maryland recently changed its prior drunk driving laws to conform to federal standards. While the federal government cannot require a state to pass a specific law, Congress made minimum standards and definitions a prerequisite for the receipt of federal funds. Among the measures undertaken by the Maryland General Assembly were changes in the codification, titles and definitions of different alcohol charges within Maryland’s Annotated Code. One should take care to confirm whether one is referring to current definitions or recent but expired definitions of different alcohol or related charges.
A number of Annotated Code sections combine to define and then to prohibit various drunk/drugged driving offenses. The general prohibitions on drunk/drugged driving in Maryland are found at “Driving under the influence of alcohol” refers to substantial impairment, which may be proven “per se” with evidence of a blood alcohol content (“BAC”) of .08 grams per 100 milliliters of blood/210 liters of breath. “Driving while impaired” may be presumptively proven at .07 BAC, though in theory one may introduce evidence to rebut or overcome that presumption. There is no legal requirement to have a blood alcohol test in order to prosecute these charges though its absence makes prosecution much more difficult; blood alcohol contents below .05 actually exonerate the motorist from these charges by statute in Maryland, though some motorists such as underage drivers and drivers of heavy commercial vehicles may face other charges even at low BAC readings.
“Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and drugs” is difficult to prove, and allows for a defense that the motorist did not know of the effects that drugs or alcohol and drugs might create. “Driving under the influence of controlled dangerous substances” allows for a defense that a drug categorized as “CDS” i.e. heavily restricted, may be lawfully used/possessed by a motorist in a specific instance; that defense does not exonerate such driving generally, but only for that specific statute.
The penalties range from as low a maximum as 60 days in jail and a $500 fine to much more severe maximum penalties, depending on prior offenses and other circumstances. Maryland judges have a great deal of discretion in handling sentences in most motor vehicle cases including drunk driving charges; typically sentences vary by judge and by geography, the prosecutorial philosophy of different state’s attorneys, and the specific facts of the motorist and the incident. Blowing a .07 BAC after a police stop initiated from a broken tail light and a whiff of a wine cooler is probably a different scenario from blowing a .18 and striking a pedestrian in a crosswalk or a parked vehicle. There is not much in the way of “one size fits all” for drunk driving sentences in Maryland. I am aware of one judge in Prince George’s County who has gone a long way to standardize penalties in this area in his courtroom, going so far as to publish a “menu” of sentencing options to the local Bar Association newsletter as an FYI to local attorneys, but his approach is probably unique to his courtroom and jurisdiction.
In addition to fines and the risk of jail, drunk driving defendants may bear the costs and burden of complying with post-conviction probation terms, which may include supervised probation before a probation agent, attendance at victim impact panels, attendance at alcohol education, counseling or treatment programs including Alcoholics Anonymous or its equivalent or even attending/submitting to “DWI Jail” in lieu of traditional incarceration. Some must install an “interlock” device on their vehicle which will measure their blood alcohol content before the vehicle will start – an expensive requirement both for installation and maintenance.
Motorists who receive a conviction will receive sufficient points to revoke or suspend their driver’s license or privilege, with little room for leniency. Some judges will consider probation before judgment – essentially a court decision to withhold the conviction pending perfect compliance with probation, thus avoiding the points by avoiding the conviction.
Separate from the essentially criminal sanctions of the Maryland Annotated Code are administrative penalties assessed by the Motor Vehicle Administration. These penalties do not require any court conviction at all; Maryland law authorizes administrative penalties and empowers the MVA to establish rules regarding license penalties unrelated to criminal justice. A motorist who blows higher than a .08 or who refuses to take a lawfully requested test may suffer license suspensions of differing severities. There are often debates among Maryland lawyers: if your DWI client calls you from the police station (which he in Maryland must be permitted to do upon his specific request) to ask you whether he should take the breath test, what do you tell him? When do you tell him to refuse? No simple answer exists.
At the Law Office of Bruce Godfrey, we take motor vehicle charges including drunk driving charges extremely seriously. In this economy especially, if you cannot drive, you probably cannot earn a living unless you live in New York or San Francisco or maybe the District of Columbia. We prepare cases to try them and try cases with the goal of winning, consistent with the rules of court and the rules of ethics. Sometimes in a drunk driving case, it’s wise to consider a compromise or a plea of guilty on some charges, but we regard this as a severe last resort. We respect and revere the constitutional right that an American defendant has to force the government to meet its very high proof burden – proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every element of any charge.
Preparation, observance of filing deadlines and keeping as much of the upper hand procedurally as possible all contribute to the “chess game” of criminal litigation and defense. In cases where we do make a plea of guilty, we enter the plea with the intention of optimizing our client’s position at all times – making the best of the facts of the specific case. For our clients who need or want support to address any alcohol- or drug-specific issues, we can provide assistance to our clients in finding the right support resources.
Finally, when a court does make a finding of guilt for whatever, we prepare our “mitigation” in detail – our arguments in favor of leniency. We know that Mothers Against Drunk Driving representatives sometimes sit in on drunk driving cases in the gallery and keep detailed records of judges’ patterns of sentences; we come ready to give the court strong arguments to treat our clients fairly and to optimize their chance to keep their freedom and their future.
