Some of you may have been wondering what has been going on as far as the court stuff, but today was my last court date and everything is public record now, so it’s ok to talk about it. I want to start off by saying that if I find any rude comments they’ll be deleted, I already feel bad enough about the whole thing.

On August 6, 2015, I was arrested for DUI/DWI and 2 counts of hit and run, as well as several traffic violations. I had become addicted to my prescription Klonopin and was abusing it. I would be so out of it that I didn’t know what I was saying and doing. I don’t know why I got in the car that day, I honestly felt fine. I ended up in another city not too far from here, and rear-ended a guy. I panicked and drove off. Shortly after that, the police were behind me so I pulled into a gas station and got out. They were asking me questions like “why didn’t you stop?”, all I could say in response was that I was scared. The police ended up getting my insurance information to give to the guy I hit, then read me my rights, handcuffed me, and took me to the jail. My car was also towed to the impound lot. At the jail, they had me do those field sobriety tests and I failed miserably. They took my license and said it would be suspended for 90 days, and gave me a temporary license. Then they had a nurse take my blood. After all that, they gave me paperwork stating when I had to appear in court and let me go. Later I found out that I had admitted everything to the police later on when I received the police report.

When I got to court, it was for my arraignment. The judge read me the charges and said for the DUI/DWI charges, there would be mandatory jail time. I also filled out an application for a public defender and was approved because I couldn’t afford my own attorney. I had several court dates after that, none of which anything really happened. My public defender wanted to send my case to mental health court because he got all my mental health records. I don’t know if I had to go to at least 5 court dates where nothing happened. A lot of it was waiting for the results of the blood test. A few months ago, I went to mental health court and the judge ordered me to do 16 hours of drug treatment and drug testing. I successfully completed those, then I had a court date for March 15th. At this point, I was presented with a plea agreement by my public defender. For pleading guilty, I got 1 day in jail suspended (meaning I didn’t have to actually serve it), had to be fingerprinted and have a mug shot taken at the police department, and attend a restitution hearing. The DUI/DWI, 2 counts of hit and run were dropped, and I was only charged with reckless driving. I think that because I had no prior criminal record, that that was why I didn’t get sent to jail.

Fast forward to today, 8 months after my arrest, I attended the restitution hearing. The judge said I didn’t owe anything and was free to go. I wish the doctor who prescribed the Klonopin would have noticed that I had a problem, but he didn’t. I didn’t finally admit to him that I had a problem until after I got arrested. I also ended up in a psychiatric hospital for a week because the whole arrest and situation made me have a mental breakdown. While I was in the hospital, they did a blood test and determined that I had overdosed on the Klonopin.

I can’t believe this had been going on for 8 months, I wish they could have come to a resolution a lot sooner. I was under large amounts of stress during that time. I’m glad it’s finally over and I can finally move on. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to get my car out of impound, so I left it there. There was also so much damage to my car that I wouldn’t have been able to afford to get it fixed either. My license is still suspended because I owe the MVD an abandoned vehice fee of $600 and would have to pay that to reinstate my license. There was no way I could afford that. I also recently got a traffic survival school order in the mail because of the reckless driving charge. I couldn’t do that either because I can’t afford to go to the school. My license will just have to stay suspended, I just can’t afford everything they’re asking me to do to keep it. I don’t really see the point anyway because I no longer have the car.

It’s much more difficult getting around now, I don’t have the freedom I once had. Even if I did have the money to pay everything and get my license back, it would be a bad idea to drive while I’m on medication. Out here, they don’t care if you’re on prescription drugs, drunk, or street drugs, it’s all treated the same. I wouldn’t want to risk getting another DUI, because for it to happen again, I would definitely go to jail.