Another Reason to NEVER go to Court without an Attorney

Here's another example of why you should never go to court without an attorney. An individual called my office today and said he was at court last night and pled guilty to driving without insurance, lost his license for one year and now has second thoughts about what he did. He said his insurance lapsed for a few days, was pulled over and issued a driving without liabilty insurance. He told me that he had a perfectly clean driving record...that this was his first ticket. He told me that he thought this was an easy case since he was a volunteer figherfighter and EMT in a neighboring town and that he would just show the prosector that he insured the vehicle the next day and the case would be dismissed. He told me that his backup plan in case that did not work was go before the Judge and to ask for more time to get an attorney and have the case adjourned. As it turns out, the prosecutor did not dismiss the case and the Judge did not adjorn it. The Judge told him that he had two choices (1) plea guilty or (2) go to trial tonight because the office was present in court and was not working the night shift for the next month. The court said that the would not bring in the officer at night and pay him overtime. The individual, being completely blindsided and scared just pled guilty and the Judge suspended his license for the full year.