Being guilty doesn't mean you should automatically plead guilty. A lot of times legal counsel will plead not guilty just to give more time to work on a remedy. You need to find out who was assigned to you as your public defender ASAP. The court clerk should be able to tell you that (your case or ticket number might help so keep that handy). Set a time with your defender ASAP and tell him your side. Your vigilance could be the difference in the low end of fines and the upper end. With 4 counts that could be a huge gap. You never know, maybe they'll drop it down to only 1 count if you have no priors.
One thing you need to know about public defenders is that these guys are usually just starting out and are taking on a huge case load of people they've never seen or talked to. It's your job to make yourself available to him. He's not going to seek you out to help you. Many PD's don't meet their clients until court. If you want the best case scenario you cannot let this be you.
Finding your PD and getting in his office is priority #1. After that, it won't hurt to see what prosecutor is assigned your case. He isn't required to speak to you and may not but it certainly won't hurt. Just make sure you go to lawyer first. Many PDs have relationships with the prosecutors being that they see each other regularly.
Best of luck. Be very vigilant to protect your interest. Being guilty doesn't mean you have to bend over a chair and let courts do whatever they want.
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