I was pulled over last year and didnt know my licsense was suspended the officer was nice enough to tell me that if I have my licsense straight before I go to court I should be ok they will drop the case. The problem is I never received a court date why? because the officer used a different address and middle name for me that was not on my license. If I didn't look on the internet today I wouldn't have known I had a warrant. My license is fine, I have no warrants or no open cases. I am not trying to do jail time for something I didn't know about. Especially when I have 2 jobs and a high school basketball coach.
The amount of jail time you theoretically face is dependent upon the specific nature of the traffic offense(s). Do you have prior convictions, or have you received pbj for offenses in the past? The Court will take all factors into account in deciding the amount of the warrant, and what they perceive the appropriate result to be. An attorney may be able to negotiate a disposition for you with the State's Attorney. Getting funds together to handle costs, or discerning if you are eligible for the public defender should be considered quickly. After all, the warrant is just hanging out there waiting to inconvenience you at an inopportune time.
The facts you provide don't add up. You say you were given a ticket for driving on a suspended license due to a warrant for a failure to appear on a prior ticket, which was issued to someone with a similar name (but not same middle name and address as you), and that's why you did not receive notice of the prior ticket? Do you actually know if you ever received this so-called ticket that you failed to appear at trial for? How can you have received a ticket you don't ever remember receiving? Could it be that someone with a similar name got a ticket, but it wasn't you, and the officer who just issued this ticket is mistaken? And you also state that "My license is fine, I have no warrants or open cases." What? Then how did the officer come to the conclusion that your license was NOT fine, and that you were driving on a suspended license? You can't be both suspended with an outstanding warrant (which you say you confirmed by looking on the internet), and at the same time say your license "is fine" and that you have no warrant and no open cases. Get a lawyer to look into this for you, so you are not driving around on a suspended license and get pulled over and charged a second time.
Perhaps the warrant might be recalled, based on the information about the officer's mistake. You should also confirm that the M.V.A. has your current address. Most people do not think about notifying the M.V.A. when they move, because there are so many other things on their minds, but you do have to specifically notify them. An address change with the Post Office will not work.
If your driving record is clean, and if your license is currently valid, it would be unusual for the court to impose confinement. However, no one can say for sure whether the state will prosecute or what the court will impose.
