Maryland Criminal Defense · Theft & Property

Unauthorized Use vs. Motor Vehicle Theft in Maryland: Why Giving the Car Back Does Not End the Case

Maryland has three separate statutes for taking somebody else’s vehicle. One of them says out loud that returning the car is not a defense.

By Amir Guerami, Esq. · The Guerami Law Firm, LLC

The car is back in the driveway. You filled the tank. You are certain this was a misunderstanding between family, or between friends, or between two people who used to share a household and no longer do.

Then the paperwork arrives, and it does not say misunderstanding. It says felony.

Maryland punishes taking somebody else’s vehicle far more harshly than people expect, through three separate statutes that overlap, stack, and reach from a few months to twenty years. Knowing which one you are facing — and why the State picked it — is the first honest step in fighting it.

The Statutes

Three Charges, Three Very Different Consequences

Unauthorized removal of property — Md. Code, Crim. Law § 7-203. This is the charge most people call “unauthorized use.” The statute says that without the owner’s permission, a person may not take and carry away, from the premises or out of the custody or use of another, any property — and it names a vehicle, a motor vehicle, a vessel, and livestock specifically.

It is a misdemeanor. The statute sets the penalty at imprisonment not less than six months and not exceeding four years, a fine, or both, plus an order to restore the property or pay its full value.

Then comes the subsection nobody expects. Section 7-203(c) states that it is not a defense that the person intended to hold or keep the property for their own present use and not with any intent of appropriating or converting it.

In ordinary English: “I was going to bring it back” is not a defense in Maryland. The General Assembly wrote that objection out of the law on purpose.

Taking a motor vehicle — Md. Code, Crim. Law § 7-105. This statute makes it a crime to knowingly and willfully take a motor vehicle out of the owner’s lawful custody, control, or use without the owner’s consent. It is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine up to $5,000, or both, plus restoration of the vehicle or payment of its full value.

Read that element list again and notice what is absent. There is no requirement that you intended to keep the car. No requirement that you sold it, stripped it, or hid it. Knowing, willful, without consent — that is the whole offense. A single night’s drive can satisfy every element of a Maryland felony.

The Value Ladder

Why the Price of the Car Sets the Prison Number

Theft — Md. Code, Crim. Law § 7-104. This is the general theft statute, and it is the only one of the three that requires the State to prove you intended to deprive the owner of the vehicle. In exchange for that heavier burden, it offers prosecutors a far heavier hammer, because the penalty scales with value:

• Less than $100 — misdemeanor, up to 90 days.

• At least $100 but less than $1,500 — misdemeanor, up to 6 months for a first offense.

• At least $1,500 but less than $25,000 — felony, up to 5 years and a $10,000 fine.

• At least $25,000 but less than $100,000 — felony, up to 10 years and a $15,000 fine.

• $100,000 or more — felony, up to 20 years and a $25,000 fine.

Restitution rides along with all of it. And § 7-105 expressly says it does not preclude a theft prosecution under § 7-104 — which is why you will often see both counts on the same charging document for the same twenty minutes of driving.

The Insider Lens

What Prosecutors Actually Look At Before They Pick a Statute

When I was the one filing these charges, the decision came down to arithmetic before it came down to anything else.

Look at what the value ladder does. A 2004 sedan worth $1,200 is, under the theft statute, a misdemeanor — six months. That same $1,200 sedan under § 7-105 is a felony — five years. The conduct is identical. The exposure is ten times larger. And nothing but the prosecutor’s charging decision separates the two.

The number at the top of your charging document was not dictated by what you did. It was a choice somebody made in an office.

The reverse is true at the top end. On a $60,000 truck, § 7-105 caps out at five years, while § 7-104 opens a ten-year door. So high-value vehicles get charged as theft, low-value vehicles get charged as felony taking, and the exposure printed on the page was selected, not assigned.

After the arithmetic comes the only factual question that matters: what was the scope of permission, and when did it end? Prosecutors build that answer out of ordinary life:

• Text messages between you and the owner, in both directions.

• The rental company’s contract return date, or the dealership’s test-drive log.

• Whether the owner reported the car in an hour or in three days — and what they said on that call.

• Whether you had a key of your own, and how you got it.

• Whether you shared a household, a lease, an insurance policy, or a child.

• Whether the owner has a motive to overstate what they said — a breakup, a debt, a family fight.

The Statement

Why Defendants Talk More in Car Cases Than in Any Other

Almost always, prosecutors also have your statement. People who would never speak to a detective about an assault will happily explain a car, because a car feels explainable. It is not. Explaining is evidence.

!Do Not Do These Things

Each of these is a routine way a defensible car case becomes an indefensible one.

• Do not apologize to the owner. A text saying “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken it” settles the two hardest issues in the State’s case — identity and knowledge — in one sentence.

• Do not call the detective to clear it up. You cannot talk your way out of a charging decision already made. You can only supply evidence against yourself.

• Do not assume returning the vehicle ended it. Under § 7-203(c), it did not. Return may matter for restitution and at sentencing. It is not an acquittal.

• Do not rely on the owner to “drop the charges.” In Maryland the owner is a witness, not the prosecuting authority. The State’s Attorney decides, and a reluctant family member can be subpoenaed.

• Do not plead at the first appearance to make it stop. A plea is the one part of this process that cannot be undone.

Underestimated Consequences

A Misdemeanor Here Is Not a Small Thing

Because unauthorized removal is a misdemeanor, defendants treat it as the safe landing spot — the thing you take to make the felony go away. Sometimes that is exactly right. It should still be a decision, not a reflex.

It is still a criminal conviction. It carries restitution. It appears on background checks run by employers, landlords, and licensing boards. For anyone holding a commercial driver’s license, a vehicle-related conviction is a live problem. For a non-citizen, any theft-adjacent conviction needs immigration analysis before the plea. And whether a particular Maryland misdemeanor can ever be expunged is a specific question with a specific answer — one your lawyer should confirm before you agree to anything.

The Defense

Where These Cases Are Actually Won

★Leverage Points in a Maryland Vehicle Case

These are the pressure points a defense lawyer works, in roughly the order they matter:

• Chain of consent. Section 7-105(a) defines “owner” as a person who has a lawful interest in — or is in lawful possession of — a motor vehicle by consent or chain of consent of the title owner. If the person who handed you the key held that vehicle lawfully, there is a genuine question about whose consent was required and whether you had it.

• Mental state. Both § 7-105 and § 7-203 require a knowing, willful, unpermitted taking. A defendant who reasonably believed they had standing permission is contesting an element of the offense — not asking for mercy.

• Identity. Being near a car, riding in a car, or having once had access to a car is not proof that you took it.

• The stop and the search. Many of these cases begin with a traffic stop, a tag-reader hit, or a search of the interior. If the stop or search violated the Fourth Amendment, a motion to suppress can remove the evidence the case rests on before a jury ever sits.

• Value. On a felony theft count, value is an element. Fair market value on the date of the offense is not the purchase price, not the loan balance, and not a number pulled off a listing site. High mileage, body damage, and mechanical failure routinely put a vehicle below the felony threshold — and the State carries the burden.

• Merger. Section 7-105(d)(2) provides that if a person is convicted under both § 7-104 and § 7-105 for the same act or transaction, the § 7-105 conviction merges into the theft conviction for sentencing. That is written statutory protection. It should be raised, not assumed.

Beyond those, there is the disposition itself. In the right case the goal is not only the verdict but what the record looks like afterward — whether the charge can be resolved in a way that preserves a license, an immigration status, a clearance, or a future expungement. Those consequences lock in at the plea, and they are permanent.

The felony count and the misdemeanor count came out of the same file, describing the same twenty minutes. What separates them is argument — and argument is what a defense lawyer is for.

The Bottom Line

The Honest Worst Case, and the Realistic Path

The worst version of this case is a felony conviction, five years of exposure, a restitution order, and a record that follows you into every job application you will ever fill out. That version is real. It usually begins with a phone call to a detective, or a plea entered at a first appearance to make the fear stop.

The better version starts with silence, then a lawyer, then a hard look at what the State can actually prove about consent, knowledge, identity, and value. Maryland handed prosecutors three overlapping statutes and wide discretion in choosing among them. That discretion cuts both ways — it is negotiated, contested, and sometimes defeated by lawyers who know exactly how the charging decision got made, because they used to make it.

Legal Disclaimer

This article is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Maryland law changes, and every case turns on its own facts. If you or someone you love has been charged, speak with a Maryland criminal defense attorney about your specific situation before making any decisions.

Speak With a Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney

If you have been charged with a crime or a serious traffic offense in Maryland, do not plead until you have spoken to a lawyer who has stood on both sides of the courtroom. Contact The Guerami Law Firm, LLC through NoPleaMD.com for a confidential consultation with Amir Guerami and his team.

The Guerami Law Firm, LLC NoPleaMD.com