Picked up a new client today. If he ever wants to give you gambling advice or other legal counsel, run.

Art ignored a speeding ticket he receive a couple years ago and as Courts do when you ignore a ticket other than parking, they send you a few notices including one to inform you that there is a warrant out for your arrest. In addition, you are informed that your driver's license has been suspended. And being the type of guy who ignored the ticket in the first place, you ignore this as well.

Well, you ignore it until one evening the flashing lights from hell appear in your rear view mirror. Pulling over means certain jail at least for the night. They will impound the car, and you don’t have the money that you will need. So, not unexpectedly, you take off.

Bad play. Although you would have spent the night in jail and it would cost you a lot of money and you would have to deal with something that you have, until now, successfully avoided, you have just traded a 93-day misdemeanor for a five-year felony. So now in addition to the costs you would have paid had you not taken off, you now have the added costs of defending a felony. And because there is dash cam of you taking off, pleading innocent of the charge is futile. In addition, the fleeing and eluding was charged under the traffic code, so there is an automatic suspension of your driver’s license. And to top it all off, Art now will have a felony on his record. If his employer doesn’t fire him for having a felony, getting to work on a suspended license, going to Canada, and even driving for work will be restricted, if not denied.

All this to avoid to a misdemeanor in the first place. Next time you find yourself in a similar situation, consider what happens if you get caught. Running from a police officer with all their resources is not sure thing. In fact, you probably have a greater chance of getting caught than getting away with it. And to top it all off, you have just told the officer through your actions to “fuck off”. He or she is probably not to happy about that.

When you get a ticket in the first place and you are the type of person who will ignore it and end up in a similar situation as above, hiring an attorney would have been a good investment. Not only would you not have to appear, but depending on your driving record, you probably could have saved yourself thousands and not have a felony on your record for life.