Q: Received criminal citation in Maryland for accidentally having weapon in carry on luggage. Wondering about next steps?
I specifically am interested in the time frame for establishing a court date. I received the citation on Dec. 19 but won't be returning to MD until Jan. 9. The officer that gave it to me couldn't tell me an exact time frame when I can expect a court date to be set and I'm wondering if I'm at any risk of missing the date? Besides that, I have the usual questions of, how likely is this to continue on to instead of being dropped and whether I should be looking into getting a lawyer.
A:
If the court has your current address, you should receive notice of the charges.
Depending on exactly what you've been charged with, you likely want to hire an attorney to defend you with this case. There are often subtle nuances with these laws, the searches, etc that may have the case resolved in your favor in ways that you would otherwise be unaware of or unable to present appropriately to the court.
An attorney would also be able to assist in an effort to have court dates rescheduled based on conflicts if you are out of state and need such adjustments, although that ability is not guaranteed, it is easier to do through counsel than on your own.
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