Maryland Criminal
Defense Lawyers

Top Maryland Criminal Defense Lawyers

DO NOT SPEAK TO THE POLICE UNTIL YOU CALL US

Have You Been
Charged with a Crime
in Maryland?

Protect your rights. Call one of our Maryland criminal defense lawyers who can fight to keep you out of jail and get your charges dropped and dismissed.

If You’re Facing Criminal Charges

If you have been charged with a crime, now is the time to call a lawyer. It is important to have an attorney represent you from the start. There will be important stages early in your criminal case where an attorney can step in to limit the information that the police can get from you, fight to prevent evidence from being taken, and work to limit the initial charges you face. We can also help you with preliminary stages of your case, like the arraignment, and help you understand how your case will proceed.

Don’t Talk to the Police Without a Defense Lawyer

In your case, there might be many ways to challenge the testimony and evidence against you. If you speak to the police, they can then turn around and use what you say against you. Regardless of your guilt, the police are not on your side. Some defenses challenge the fact that a crime was committed at all by arguing that the facts do not amount to the legal definition of a crime. Other defenses challenge whether they arrested the right person or whether you had an alibi. These defenses can become more difficult if you speak to the police.

If you are in police custody, you have the right to have an attorney present if you are being questioned. This is right one of your “Miranda rights,” which also include the right to remain silent. Anything you say during an interrogation can be used against you, and police often use questioning as a way to get additional information from defendants who might not understand their rights. Many arrests lead to coerced guilty pleas and other unjust admissions at this stage. When you are being questioned, you should politely decline to answer any questions until your lawyer is present.

Call Our Criminal Defense Lawyers Immediately

Criminal charges in Maryland can be extremely serious. If you are convicted of a crime, you could face long-term penalties, such as fines that could take years to pay off or jail time that could mean months or years in lockup. If you have been charged with a crime, it is important to work with a criminal defense lawyer.

Throughout the case, our lawyers will also advocate for you in negotiations with the prosecution that could result in charges being dropped or dismissed. We might also be able to arrange a plea agreement that could reduce the charges and penalties you face. In many cases, we might even be able to get charges dropped in exchange for community service, anger management, substance abuse treatment, and participation in other rehabilitative programs.

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We Can Help Protect Your Rights

Randolph Rice is a former District Attorney who has been working as a criminal defense lawyer for over a decade. His experience and the experience of the other criminal defense lawyers at the Law Offices of Randolph Rice can mean the difference between facing an aggressive prosecutor on your own and putting up a fight to avoid jail time. Our attorneys work to protect our clients’ rights and fight to get charges dropped and dismissed.

Criminal Hearings and Trials in Maryland

If you are facing criminal charges, it is important to understand the different stages of your case and what you might be in for. Our lawyers can help you each step of the way.


  1. The Arrest and Interrogation

    YUsually, a criminal case will begin with an arrest. At the time you are arrested, you will usually be searched, booked, and brought to jail. Additional “inventory searches” might be made of the bags and property you have with you once you get to the station. Police will seize any evidence that they find in relation to your arrest and determine what charges are right for your case. In determining what to charge you with, they might consult with the State’s Attorney’s Office.


  2. Arraignments

    After an arrest, you will be brought before a judge at some point. This is your first court appearance in your case, and it is the first time where your right to have an attorney represent you in court. From this point forward, any interactions with police or prosecutors should go through your lawyer.


  3. Preliminary Hearings

    Preliminary hearings are only scheduled in felony cases, for the most part. At a preliminary hearing, the prosecution will have to prove that there is “probable cause” to charge you with a crime. This means that the police and prosecutor have specific evidence they can point to that shows that there was probably a crime committed and that you were probably responsible. Without this evidence, the charges should be dropped.


  4. Bail Hearings

    Once you are in custody, you will have bail determined. If the court agrees to release you, you might be asked to pay some amount for bail. If you do not show up to later court dates, you will forfeit this payment. If bail is set too high and you cannot afford it, a bail bond agent might be able to give you “bond” so that you can pay only a percentage of bail and pay back the agent later. Alternatively, a lawyer might be able to fight to get bail reduced without you having to risk your house or other collateral to afford bail. If bail is not set in your case, the court should have some argument that your release would be a threat to the community or that you are a flight risk. We can challenge these arguments and work to get bail set so you can face your charges from outside jail.


  5. Suppression Hearings

    Many cases are won and lost on the evidence available to the prosecution. If the police illegally seized evidence, searched you or your home without a warrant, or illegally forced a confession out of you, our attorneys can work to block that evidence from being used in court. In some cases, evidence suppression might leave the government without enough evidence to prove their case, making dismissal the only option.


  6. The Trial

    At the trial stage, your case will go before a judge or jury to decide whether or not you committed the crime. For misdemeanor cases, the trial happens before a judge at the District Court. Negative outcomes can usually be appealed for a new trial (“de novo appeal”) at the Circuit Court level. Felonies can be heard as a jury trial at the Circuit Court level. At your trial, the prosecution will have to prove their claims “beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict you. Our lawyers can challenge each element of the offense and work to prevent them from proving their case. We can cross-examine prosecution witnesses and present our own witnesses and evidence.


  7. Sentencing Hearings

    At sentencing, the judge will look at the facts of the case and decide what your final sentence should be. Maryland’s sentencing guidelines and the statutes you were found to have violated will also dictate mandatory minimum and maximum sentences as well as suggested sentences. Our lawyers can fight to get sentences reduced when possible. In some cases, certain legal requirements may prevent a judge from issuing a harsh sentence or an increased sentence if certain facts were not decided beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. Otherwise, the judge will be able to use a broad range of evidence, including past criminal history and other allegations, to decide your final sentence. In many cases, we will fight for house arrest, probation, and other sentences that avoid jail time.

Getting Charges Dropped and Dismissed

If evidence was seized through illegal search and seizure, the police cannot use it against you. If your home or property was searched without a warrant or if the police lacked probable cause, any evidence they found should be illegal. Fighting to get evidence “suppressed” and blocked from court is an excellent way to protect your rights and help avoid conviction. If evidence is suppressed, there might not be enough evidence left to prove the case against you.

For DUI charges to go through, the prosecutor often needs evidence from a blood test that shows you had alcohol or drugs in your system. Similarly, there must be scientific testing to prove that drug charges actually involved real drugs. If the test was tainted or the lab responsible for testing has questionable practices or processes, the evidence could be thrown out as unscientific. Similarly, scientific evidence comes up in many cases in areas of fingerprints, DNA, ballistics, gunshot residue, and blood spatter analysis. Many of these tests are trusted because of their popularity on TV crime shows, but in reality, the science behind these kinds of evidence is not always as good as it seems. We can challenge pseudoscientific evidence or evidence that fails to meet the legal standards in Maryland.

DUI/DWI Charges in Maryland

DUI charges can happen at any time to any person. Maryland has both DWI (driving while impaired) and DUI (driving under the influence) charges. In either case, it is illegal to drive with alcohol in your system if it will impair your ability to drive. DWI charges cover drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .07% or higher, while DUI charges cover drivers with a BAC of .08% or higher.

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Charges We Regularly Defend Against

Drug Charges

Simple drug possession involves possession of drugs for your own personal use. Charges for drug dealing, drug trafficking, drug manufacturing, and possession with the intent to deliver are often far more severe. Many types of possession charges have been decriminalized. We can help you navigate this web of charges.

Assault

The crime of assault occurs when someone causes another person injury. These charges can be misdemeanors or felonies with various penalties based on how the crime was committed, whether a weapon was used, who the victim was (e.g., assault on a police officer), and how serious the injuries were.

Crimes Involving Property

Theft charges can be separated into various levels of crime based on the value of what was stolen or what type of object it was. Theft can involve directly stealing from a person, stealing unattended property, or stealing from a person’s presence.

If theft involves force or violence, it is usually charged as robbery instead. This is a more serious offense, as it is often considered a violent crime instead of a property crime.

Burglary does not have to involve theft. Instead, burglary includes the crime of breaking and entering and other issues involving trespassing with the intent to commit a crime.


Charges Involving Sexual Acts

Sex crimes like rape and sexual assault are very serious offenses. These kinds of crimes could require you to register as a sex offender, pay high fines, and serve time in jail.

Murder and Manslaughter

If you are accused of killing someone else, your case is very serious. Call an attorney immediately for help with homicide charges, manslaughter charges, or other murder charges.

If You’ve Been Arrested, Our Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Can Help

If you have questions about the criminal process in Maryland, contact Rice, Murtha & Psoras today at (410) 431-0911 to discuss your case. Our Maryland criminal defense lawyers have experience handling a wide range of criminal cases in the State of Maryland and may be able to help with your case, too. Call us today to schedule your free case consultation.

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