Maryland Criminal Law Section 2-201
(a)   A murder is in the first degree if it is:
(1)   a deliberate, premeditated, and willful killing;
(2)   committed by lying in wait;
(3)   committed by poison; or
(4)   committed in the perpetration of or an attempt to perpetrate:
(i)   arson in the first degree;
(ii)   burning a barn, stable, tobacco house, warehouse, or other outbuilding that:
1.   is not parcel to a dwelling; and
2.   contains cattle, goods, wares, merchandise, horses, grain, hay, or tobacco;
(iii)   burglary in the first, second, or third degree;
(iv)   carjacking or armed carjacking;
(v)   escape in the first degree from a State correctional facility or a local correctional facility;
(vi)   kidnapping under § 3-502 or § 3-503(a)(2) of this article;
(ix)   robbery under § 3-402 or § 3-403 of this article;
(x)   sexual offense in the first or second degree;
(xi)   sodomy; or
(xii)   a violation of § 4-503 of this article concerning destructive devices.
(b)   (1)   A person who commits a murder in the first degree is guilty of a felony and on conviction shall be sentenced to:
(ii)   imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole; or
(iii)   imprisonment for life.
(2)   Unless a sentence of death is imposed in compliance with § 2-202 of this subtitle and Subtitle 3 of this title, or a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole is imposed in compliance with § 2-203 of this subtitle and § 2-304 of this title, the sentence shall be imprisonment for life.