I think you have to look long term and understand how is this charge, if it’s on my record, going to impact me?
I have young people who get charged with alcohol offenses, marijuana possession and sometimes they don’t think long term and understand that offense is going to be on their record for the rest of their life.
I definitely advise folks to at least consult with an attorney even on traffic tickets. Traffic tickets have DMV consequences and they have insurance consequences and lots of times people don’t know when a particular ticket may result in a revocation of their driver’s license.
It’s always important at least to consult a lawyer on any criminal case just to make sure that you’re not doing something that’s going to affect you for the long term.