Q: I’m 17 years old. I have court soon and would like to know what consequences I’ll likely have to face.
I got charged with reckless driving, fleeing/attempt to elude an a officer, Unlicensed (it was after curfew), unlawful use cannabis/driver, 35+ in a 55, and disregard of 7 separate stop signs. I know nothing is certain until I appear in court but I’d like to know what they might charge me with since I was cooperative when they caught me. I’m planning on going to court and acknowledging that I messed up, because I did mess up, badly. I know what I’m asking is basically pointless since like I said it’s unsure until I appear in court, but I’m scared I’m going to get felonies and it’ll mess the rest of my life up. I understand felonies aren’t the end of the world but I’m just really scared to be honest. I’m planning on paying for a lawyer and not taking the public defender because I’m hoping they can help get the charges lessened. Am I correct that they could possibly get the charges lessened? P.s. sorry for making this so long, I just haven’t met with a lawyer yet.
A: If a driver runs more than two stop signs or stop lights or exceeds the speed limit by more than 20 miles an hour while an officer is in pursuit, that could be charged as a felony. The first court date is not the end of your case; it is the beginning. That is where you or your attorney plead not guilty and get a new court date. You don’t say where all of this happened, but you should retain the services have an experienced traffic attorney, who appears often in the county where this was filed. Good luck.
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