PENNSYLVANIA+SUSPENDED LICENSE - didnt know it was suspended - 2nd OFFENSE?

[karisugar]

What is the name of your state? PA

2005-recieved a ticket for out of date inspection
underpaid a ticket (floating fine) - called to find out
how much it costs - paid wrong amount...
- they sent a bill for the remainder amount due to wrong
address (bec address on license hadnt been changed)
{changed address on license}

2006 - got pulled over for speeding, officer tells me
that license was suspended and there was a warrant out
for her arrest - on account of the 20.00 that hadnt
been paid
-on the spot, license was taken away, and ticketed for
250.00 (driving with a suspended license)
-paid the remainder of the 2005 fine (ended up paying
3 times the amt due) and also paid the new 250.00
citation, as well as, 25.00 to penndot to get the
license reinstated.

(thought that this was resolved since the license and
driving privlidges had been restored - and all fines
were paid)

-get pulled over jan 2007 for out of date registration
(that paperwork had been sent to wrong address as
well)
-officer informed her that me that license was currently
suspended - BECAUSE when I paid the previous 250.00 fine that was the courts way of having you admit that you were guilty of driving on a suspended license - (but thought I was just paying the administrative fine to get the license back)
while paying these fines, <b>the majistrate and admins all told her that by paying these, everythng was clear - and that license was no longer suspended.</b>

NOW the majistrate has sent out judgement that she has a possible 1 year suspension of license because she was (unknowlingly) driving on a suspended license.

also...recieved a call from the judge to tell me what the fine was - utilizing my phone time with the judge, i tried explaining the situation, where he then snapped at me and said, "dont tell me, tell your lawyer...and just so you know...since this is your second offense, you're looking at jail time."


what would be the best protocol to proceed? this seems to be merely an administrative or clerical error?!
please help me.

ANY/ALL advice would be appreciated.
even people who have been in this situation before....

[AlanShore]

What would be the best protocol to proceed?

Get a lawyer.

[The Occultist]

You seem to be under the impression that once things were taken care of in court that your driving priveleges really were restored. Unfortunately, the courts do not restore driving priveleges, but your DMV does. Once things were taken care of in court, you should have taken the court order to restore driving priveleges to the DMV so that they could take care of it. By not being proactive and following up with the DMV, it is NOT the court's fault that your privileges were never restored.

As already suggested, especially since you're looking at jailtime here, you need to get yourself a lawyer.