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I have recently been charged with a driving on a suspended license in Illinois as stated in my other thread.
I am a resident of Michigan.
I lived in Florida almost 3 years ago and had unpaid tickets I didn't know about.
I was pulled over in Illinois and brought in to jail. I was charged with driving on a suspended license.
I have since cleared up my problems in Florida. Everything is paid off.
I looked on the website and for Illinois the crime is punishable up to 2,500 dollars and 360 days in jail. I am freaking out right now, this seems unreasonable. I don't even see how a punishment like this could be allowed in United States. I am definitely going to need an attorney, but I don't know what to do because I don't have the money for one. Are court appointed attorneys trustworthy or will they work against me and try to get me to pay as much as possible to the state?
Firstly, why would you think a court appointed atty. would be untrustworthy? They aren't secretly agents of the state or anything, they are professionals who know the laws far better than the average citizen and are only there to advise you and make certain that the proceedings are conducted fairly to you in accordance with the law.
Last edited by WhipperSnapper 88; 04-09-2012 at 09:59 PM..
I have recently been charged with a driving on a suspended license in Illinois as stated in my other thread.
Quote:
I am a resident of Michigan.
I lived in Florida almost 3 years ago and had unpaid tickets I didn't know about.
I was pulled over in Illinois and brought in to jail. I was charged with driving on a suspended license.
I have since cleared up my problems in Florida. Everything is paid off.
I looked on the website and for Illinois the crime is punishable up to 2,500 dollars and 360 days in jail. I am freaking out right now, this seems unreasonable. I don't even see how a punishment like this could be allowed in United States. I am definitely going to need an attorney, but I don't know what to do because I don't have the money for one. Are court appointed attorneys trustworthy or will they work against me and try to get me to pay as much as possible to the state?
Just because the crime is potentially punishable by jail time does not mean the judge has any intention of sending you to jail. My guess is first time offense like this would be punished with a monetary fine.
You can apply to have an attorney appointed for you when you appear in court. You'll be asked to execute a financial affidavit proving that you can't afford an attorney. Your application will be rejected if the judge decides that whatever punishment he might impose in the case would not be jail time.
Seriously guy. My advice to you is to stop driving on a suspended license. If you have a vehicle some would think you probably have the means to pay for an attorney if you sell it.
There are many fine court appointed attorneys. There are many that are not fine. Your inability to pay for your own legal counsel means you can't be a "picker and a chooser". The analogy that I draw is that the taxpayers are willing to pay for you to have a Ford Focus not a Cadillac Escalade.
Like markg said, it's going to be a real good sign if the Judge doesn't appoint one at all, means in all likelyhood you won't be facing time. Really, you're getting yourself all worried over nothing if it's your 1st offense or even if you have a pretty good driving record. The most important thing is to go to court with all evidence (documents and a valid licsense) proving you've legally resolved the matter. If the Judge sees you've cleared the matter up he's likely to say "time served" meaning the time you spent in the cooler is your sentence or a small fine.
If I were in your shoes, I would dress nice, listen very closely to the Judge, they hate repeating things, it ##### them off, and don't get into a debate over whether your guilty or not, answer his questions truthfully and apologize. All should go well for you. Note: I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.
I have since cleared up my problems in Florida. Everything is paid off.
I looked on the website and for Illinois the crime is punishable up to 2,500 dollars and 360 days in jail.
I am freaking out right now, this seems unreasonable. I don't even see how a punishment like this could be allowed in United States. I am definitely going to need an attorney, but I don't know what to do because I don't have the money for one. Are court appointed attorneys trustworthy or will they work against me and try to get me to pay as much as possible to the state?
Its not like you've ignored and accumulated a ton of unpaid fines, unless, theres more to the story.
Although, its an inconvenence, thats all they want you to do is clear up the fine and show its paid. You may get fined for the suspended license. If you don't have the fine money, they'll set up payment arrangements.
Do you really think they want to take up jail space with such small offenses? Don't overreact, you're worring about nothing.
You've been given good advice: appropriate attire, do not argue, listen...speak only when spoken to. You should have no problem (other than paying a stiff fine that you may not be able to afford.) I will take a minute to thank you on behalf of the state of Illinois for the contribution you are about to make. Thanks for doing your part to stimulate the economy.
As for your question about a court appointed attorney being trustworthy: watch them closely. As with all attorneys, it's the 99 that give the other one a bad name.
Thanks for all of the advice you guys. I think you are right that I don't have to worry too much about going to jail, but I just feel that this is unjust so I want to fight it.
I did decide to go with an attorney, but I decided to go ahead and pay for one. It's hurting the budget, but it is also going to save me the trips of driving all the way down to Illinois and getting a hotel and all of those hassles. I'm going to fight this and try to get it dropped. I feel that this case is unfair and I am hoping to win.
I have to admit, it does have me a little nervous having a possiblity of 360 days in jail.
Well, that would not have been my choice. Because if you lose, you pay the attorney fee and the fine. And you have to show up for your court date. Really, way too much hassle and drama for a fine you can put on the credit card. They will ask you why you did not pay for the tickets when you received them...and slam dunk, you have no real defense on that one. It does not matter that you did not know your license was suspended because of unpaid fines. Your first responsibility was to pay those tickets, then there would not be this issue.
I see this as a slam dunk. Whine all you want about "fairness". Life ain't fair. They won't put you in jail...duh...they have that on there to throw folks in jail to hold them for other crimes if there are warrants on them.
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