Legal Question in Traffic Law in Maryland

Depending on whether you actually had your license with you, and whether the officer intended to charge you with Driving Without License (a charge carrying 60 days jail/$500, by the way), you could be convicted under this statute requiring that you hold a license to drive. You could also be convicted of an expired license unless you can make a good legal argument that you were not properly notified of the charges. You should consider getting a lawyer, because not knowing your prior record or other details, I can't tell you what will happen when you go to court.

You may have an issue that results in dismissal of the charge. When the state charges an offense that it cannot prove, either the state may dismiss the charge on its own, or you can ask the court to dismiss it at trial. However, you must know for certain what the elements of the charge and evidence are in your case. You would not want to be mistaken, turn down a good settlement offer, lose at trial, and receive a worse sentence. A criminal defense lawyer can give you a professional evaluation and litigate the issue for you.

Beware that nothing prevents a motivated police officer from issuing a new citation for the correct charge. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they do not. A lawyer can help you consider this possibility, and whether the possible penalty for it is worse than the one you are facing. You would not want to go from the frying pan into the fire.