Felony Charge For Empty Residue Bags, Lawyer Seems Uninterested, Trying To Make Sure I’m Not Getting Fleeced. (front Royal Virginia)

Location: Front Royal VA

Would love some advice here: In June, I was arrested in Virginia while traveling to my home state of Alabama on two charges of felony possession, one charge for two residue bags of cocaine found in my purse (reported as 0.00 weight on police report) and 4 tabs of LSD found in the center console of the vehicle. There were 4 other people with me and I never identified the LSD or claimed it to any extent, they pinned the bags on me because they were in my purse and just piled on the LSD charge. The cop took me out of the car on suspicion of DUI and searched my pockets, finding a cut straw, and used that as probable cause to search the vehicle. So far, the police report and all court documents have my last name misspelled (in different ways on both documents, neither correct).

In the jail I asked a cop for a recommendation of a bondsman to call (foolish but I’ve never been arrested before so I don’t know how anything works), and after being bonded out I asked the bondsman for a recommendation for a lawyer, who I called and was assured by him I’d be fine. He has some major communication issues, bringing me into court to waive my right to a speedy trial without communicating what I was signing, and seeming generally bothered by me asking basic questions (also asked me to send money to his side business, not the law firm… is this standard?) He says he is entering a plea at my next date proposing the code 251 first time offender deferment, which would include a year of probation (minimum), classes fees etc…

A couple friends/associates have suggested that I might not be receiving the help that I could in this case, and I keep reading that people have had cases like this reduced to misdemeanors/fees. Living in another state, I would love to not have to deal with a year of probation, and basically would like to know if the deferred sentence/probation is the best outcome, or if I should try and find a lawyer that is more willing to explore options that can minimize my sentence. The court date where I will enter a plea is this Friday (a week from today, so if I need to do something else I need to act quickly. Any and all recommendations and advice is appreciated! Thank you for reading!