Maryland Constitution
Article XV - Miscellaneous
SEC. 2.

Any elected official of the State, or of a county or of a municipal corporation who during the elected official's term of office is found guilty of any crime which is a felony, or which is a misdemeanor related to the elected official's public duties and responsibilities and involves moral turpitude for which the penalty may be incarceration in any penal institution, shall be suspended by operation of law without pay or benefits from the elective office. During and for the period of suspension of the elected official, the appropriate governing body and/ or official authorized by law to fill any vacancy in the elective office shall appoint a person to temporarily fill the elective office, provided that if the elective office is one for which automatic succession is provided by law, then in such event the person entitled to succeed to the office shall temporarily fill the elective office. If the finding of guilt becomes a final conviction, after judicial review or otherwise, such elected official shall be removed from the elective office by operation of Law and the office shall be deemed vacant. If the finding of guilt of the elected official is reversed or overturned, the elected official shall be reinstated by operation of Law to the elective office for the remainder, if any, of the elective term of office during which the elected official was removed, and all pay and benefits shall be restored. Any elected official of the State, or of a county or of a municipal corporation who during the elected official's term of office enters a guilty plea or a plea of nolo contendere to any crime which is a felony, or which is misdemeanor related to the elected official's public duties and responsibilities and involves moral turpitude for which the penalty may be incarceration in any penal institutiion, shall be removed from the elective office by operation of law and the office shall be deemed vacant (originally Article XV, sec. 3, renumbered by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified Nov. 7, 1978. As sec. 3, it was amended by Chapter 879, Acts of 1974, ratified Nov. 5, 1974. As sec. 2, amended by Chapter 147, Acts of 2012, ratified Nov. 6, 2012).