Q: I was pulled over on a suspended licence in Pike CO IL what are my options.

A: First, it's important to recognize that at this point, you are facing a class A misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $2500 and/or up to 364 days in a county jail. While a first or second offender will not likely face such a steep penalty, it is important to remember that this is a serious offense for which it is highly advisable that you seek counsel to represent you.

That said, your path to successfully navigate this legal issue is straightforward. The ultimate goal in driving on suspended cases is to remedy your suspension and restore your driving privileges. Upon completion of this task, the prosecutor will allow supervision, amendment to a lesser offense, or in some rare cases, even dismissal. How the prosecutor chooses among these varies by county to county but the best way to receive the most favorable offer is to restore your driving privileges before resolving your suspended driving case.

To get to the bottom of your suspension, you should stop by any Secretary of State facility and request a "court purposes abstract". This $12.00 document outlines all of your driving history and will allow your attorney to identify exactly what holds and stops on your license are preventing renewal or causing suspension respectively. An attorney can help read this document which will help get to the bottom of your suspension so that it might be resolved.

As to your options, the best one is a dismissal though I've only heard of this in very rare instances and should not be something you hold out for. The most likely outcome will be supervision. This is advantageous because since no conviction enters, no driving record is avaialble to insurance companies regarding this offense keeping your rates down. It will also allow you to keep a criminal misdemeanor off your record as successful completion of a term of court supervision results in a dismissal of the case against you. The worst outcome is conviction. This will be reported to your insurance provider and it will result in your record showing you were convicted of criminal misdemeanor. Lastly, the secretary of state will, depending on the basis of the suspension, extend the suspension period by the original term of suspension during which the offense was committed. If that term has already expired, a new term is put in place equal to the original one. For example, if you were suspended for 3 months and drove during month 2 of this time, you would be suspended for a total of 6 months as an additional 3 months would be added to the suspension for which 2 out of the three months has been served leading to 4 more months rather than 1 month of suspension.

This is the result you want to avoid. Hiring an attorney to navigate the basis of your suspension and lift it will be invaluable to ensuring the best possible result for your suspended license case to keep you on the road.

I hope that helps!