My Night In Jail Part Three
After getting my car out of jail at 11a.m. I am finally able to go home and sleep!! I had been up for about 28 hours….. I haven’t done that since college! I lay down on the couch thankful that this whole ordeal is OVER and I wasn’t arrested on my way to photograph a wedding (can you imagine?)!! OVER….Or is it?!
Fast forward to the middle of January. I proceed to check my mailbox and what do I have but a letter from the Department of Motor Safety. Hunh, interesting. I open the letter and stare at it in shock. I clearly must be reading this wrong! My license is being REVOKED for 30 days starting on the13 th ….. which is only 2 days away! I am angry, mad, sad, pissed off, I feel so lied to and violated. I AM NOT A CRIMINAL!! I THOUGH THIS WAS OVER!! Apparently I pled guilty to “driving without insurance” when I signed my release forms at the jail. OMG OMG OMG. How can I possibly go without a license for 30 days? Sure I can ride my bike to my studio (even in the snow) but how will I get to client meetings and photoshoots? After I collect myself up off the floor where I have been curled up in a ball crying, I call Liz and she talks me down off a cliff. She says she will call her lawyer in the morning and we will get this all straightened out. She will drive me around if she has to, and take me anywhere I need to go. It’s good to have amazing friends I tell ya!!!
The next day I go to the Scott County Courthouse to talk to someone in the DMV. The lady was super super sweet and listened to my story. She stated she has heard the same exact story far too many times and that there is clearly a flaw in our court system. But unfortunately in the state of MN by pleading guilty to the crime it is a mandatory 30 day revocation. UGH!!! But she gives me the information I need to head to Eagan to the Department of Motor Safety, explaining I will need to take a written test, apply for a new license, and talk to an “Evaluator” about getting a “work permit” so I can drive myself around for week. It’s only 30 days, I can get through this!!
The next day I arrive at the facility at 10:30a.m. I get in line to take my written test (which I missed two questions I shouldn’t have. Damnit!)I then get in line to apply for my license, (and to complicate the matter I have my divorce paperwork with me to change my name while I’m at it) and have a new photo taken. I ask to meet with the Evaluator and the clerk explained to me that I shouldn’t have any trouble getting a work permit and she has heard this same story too many times. Yet another person stating that the court system is flawed. The Evaluator has two people ahead of me and then has to take a lunch break so I have to sit in a waiting room….. for TWO HOURS!
I finally meet with the Evaluator. He is a rolly polly older man who looks super stern and I can’t read him at all. He asks me if I did indeed have insurance at the time of my May incident. Yes, I certainly did. Iam prepared and have the insurance information with me. He looks it over and scribbles on his pad of paper and then types on his ancient IBM computer. I sit there in silence, watching him scribble and type, looking around his office that is something out of the 80’s, for about 30 minutes. I am beginning to think “oh crap, he’s not going to be able to do anything for me” just as he turns to me and says he has removed the revocation! I look at him and repeat it back, making sure I heard it right! Yes, he is removing the revocation. HOWEVER. Since I plead guilty to the crime, it will stay on my permanent record.
As it turns out I didn’t actually need to take my test or apply for a new license or wait at the DMV for THREE HOURS, but the fact that I can drive freely made my day!! The following Monday Liz took me to her lawyer just to talk and see if there was anything further we could do. He pulled up my record and found that it is a petty misdemeanor and will stay on my record. UGH!. I told him my entire story and he stated that unfortunately things like this (and far worse) happen to people. I wasn’t read my Miranda rights, I wasn’toffered a lawyer, nothing. I was pressured into signing a guilty verdict in exchange for being released from jail and mislead to believe that it was “over”. I was mislead on a lot of levels but there was nothing that he could do for me. Which at this point is just fine. It’s over and done. I can drive. I can drive with a headlight out and not worry about going back to jail.
At the end of the day, It was about 12 hours of my life that I will never get back, but I still have my self-respect (even though there is a horrible mugshot of me in the system!!) AND it makes for an entertaining story that will never get old!
I hope you enjoyed it!!
(and I still wonder if the cop who arrested me is single?! Is that wrong of me?!)
{The End}
Photo by Candy Coughlin
Read Part one HERE: http:// bit.ly/z08W0I
Read Part Two HERE: http://bit.ly/wCBGuc
DISCLAIMER:
These blog entries are soley based on my personal experience in Scott County and do not necessarily reflect any actual events or people. Any similarities are coincidence.
I was screwed over…… but have no one to blame but myself…….
