Maryland Prostitution Lawyer
A Maryland criminal lawyer can provide you with legal help responding to accusations of prostitution or related offenses. An accusation does not have to lead to conviction, and you have the right to defend yourself and try to protect your good name. A lawyer in Maryland with experience in prostitution cases can represent you.
Maryland Prostitution Laws
In Maryland, laws prohibiting prostitution are found in Title 11 of the Criminal Code, which criminalizes behaviors related to obscenity and indecency. Subtitle 3 of Title 11 defines the offense of prostitution, as well as related offenses including receiving the earnings of a prostitute; occupying a building or other structure for prostitution; and procuring or soliciting a prostitute.
The definition of prostitution is found in Maryland Code Section 11-301. Under this Code section, prostitution refers to offering sex acts, sexual contact, or vaginal sex for hire. A sexual act can include a wide variety of different behaviors, including oral and anal sex acts as well as any acts that could reasonably be construed as being performed for sexual gratification or arousal of either person.
This definition is broad enough to include behaviors that occur without either party ever taking their clothing off, as long as those behaviors are considered sexual in nature. The question of whether something is a sexual act or sexual conduct can be subjective. A prostitution lawyer in Maryland can help you to argue that the behaviors you are being accused of do not fall within the definition of prostitution
Types of Maryland Prostitution Crimes
Code Section 11-306 lists specific behaviors related to prostitution that are illegal, including:
- Engaging in prostitution in any manner.
- Engaging in assignation, which is defined as doing any act in furtherance of making an appointment or engagement for prostitution.
- Keeping, maintaining, operating, or occupying a building or other structure for purposes of either assignation or prostitution.
- Allowing a building or structure under your control to be used for either assignation or prostitution.
- Letting someone into a building or other structure for purposes of assignation or prostitution.
- Procuring a prostitute, or offering to procure a prostitute.
- Soliciting a prostitute, or offering to solicit a prostitute.
These laws impose very broad prohibitions on any behaviors relaxed to sex for hire. Not only could someone who offers sex for money be charged, but a hotel owner who rents a room to a prostitute could face charges, and a person who offers to get a prostitute for his friend could be charged.
In many cases, it is questionable whether your actions were considered sex for hire or whether your behaviors were otherwise illegal under anti-prostitution laws. If you can introduce reasonable doubt about any element of the offense you’ve been charged with, you should not be convicted.
A Maryland Prostitution Lawyer Can Represent You
The job of a Maryland prostitution lawyer is to help clients to make the best of a bad situation. You want to try to avoid conviction or at least limit penalties, and your lawyer will advise you on the different ways to approach your charges to try to lessen the consequences.
Your lawyer can also represent you whether you choose to plead guilty or not guilty. When pleading not guilty, you can introduce doubt about guilt and you could also raise defenses such as entrapment if a law enforcement officer induced you to commit a prostitution offense you otherwise would not have committed.
Every case is different, and you should have your situation evaluated by an experienced prostitution attorney in Maryland so you can make an informed choice about your legal options. Call today to learn how a lawyer can represent your interests.