Need some real advice

[FF_T_Warren]

I'll try to make this short as possible.

Back track a year ago...I am wanting to get a baby alligator snapping turtle to put in an aquarium. Google them and there are several for sale at the price range of $50-$75 per piece for a baby turtle(silver dollar size). I quickly lost interest due to cost. A month later I am riding my bike around the neighborhood and see one in the ditch. I catch it. over the next day I catch a couple more. I kept them for a day or so and started thinking what the heck am I really going to do with these little things. Well I said heck I'm sitting on a couple hundred bucks in turtles and posted them to craigslist. No one really wanted them so some guy offers me like $40 for 3 I say how about $50 for all 5. He said deal. So i just got rid of em and went on about my business. A few days later talking to my coworker he says you know thats illegal right. I said no?!? I said well Im glad I didnt get caught but I guess I wont be doing that anymore. Well fast forward almost a year and LDWF shows up on my door step with a ticket for 5 counts of selling reptiles without proper permit and 1 count of not filing proper paperwork for the sales of reptiles. Long story short the guy I sold them to was an undercover agent on a sting operation.

I have tried all attempts to avoid court and all that with no luck. I was told by several agent friends to just go talk to the ASST. DA but they will not even meet with me about it. They are making me appear in court. Then they tell me its like an arraignment where I will put in a plea and go from there. I have never been in court in my life. The most I know about court I saw on My Cousin Vinny LOL. I mean I dont even know what I should plead. Obviously I am guilty but I at least would like to share my side of the story and I;m afraid that if I plea guilty then they will just say okay, bang the hammer, and set the fines. I mean these were 5 turtles the size of a silver dollar that I caught in my ditch with a bait net. Its not like I sold a bunch of 75 year old turtles. But on paper they don't know that.

What would yall do? plead guilty,not guilty? If I plead guilty will I even get a chance to speak and tell my story?