Failure To Appear To Preliminary Hearing, Found Guilty.

TL;DR: Missed my preliminary hearing because my car broke down and I live 4 hours away with no transportation. Told my PD and thought it would be handled. Later found out the case is closed, reckless driving was dropped, and I was marked guilty for speeding (reduced to a petty misdemeanor). Not sure if this was a plea deal or automatic due to failure to appear, but now my license is getting revoked and I’m trying to understand what happened.

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Location: Minnesota

So basically I went to my pre pre trial on zoom, and I got my prelim hearing date. Well my car broke down and I wasn’t able to drive to the preliminary hearing. I live 4 hrs away since I live in the state next to where I got my charges.

I called the court to tell them my situation, they directed me to my PD. I called my public defender and told him what’s up and how I lack transportation. I asked if we could reschedule it, if I could meet on zoom etc. He made it seem like rescheduling wasn’t possible but not to worry, either they will reschedule due to failure to appear and he would tell them my situation or he said they would put a warrant out due to not showing, but if that happened we would fight it. I knew my car would be fixed by then and hopefully the judge could understand and I could explain myself at the next hearing.

I called the court recently about two weeks after the prelim assuming I’d get my next court date since they take awhile to schedule and I hadn’t heard back from my PD.

The court clerk told me the case is closed and done. I guess I’m just confused if my PD took a plea deal for me and got the charges dropped or if it was an automatic charge from the state due to failure to appear. They dropped my speeding charge down to a petty misdemeanor, since MN state doesn’t allow a guilty plea without the defendant there for anything over a misdemeanor, so I’m guessing it wasn’t a plea deal?

When I talked over the phone prior to the preliminary in regards to lack of transportation etc I also shared my concerns of license suspension but knew realistically it was likely I’d lose it. He said he would try to get them to atleast drop it to 99 so I don’t lose my license. I’m guessing that’s out the window and I should be happy I got any charges dropped at all.

Heck, I know I was speeding and I’ll eat the 6 month restriction. I did the crime I gotta do my time. I know I kinda got lucky in a sense they dropped the wreckless driving too. I’m assuming it’s not worth reopening for failure to appear, given my reason might not be excusable and my charges could be more severe. I was just kinda surprised bc my PD made it seem like rescheduling or a warrant was gonna be the only outcomes of failure to appear. After looking into the laws I think I’m understanding what happened. It’s a goofy situation but I could’ve prevented it entirely so I cannot complain.