Britney's Driving Case Motors to Jury

The following italicized article is from www.eonline.com:

Britney Spears' jury is doing its best to make up for lost time.

While it took 14 months—a very long 14 months—for the singer's trial on misdemeanor driving without a license to reach a courtroom, it took barely two days of testimony before jurors entered deliberations.

The eight-woman, four-man panel is currently pondering the pop star's fate.

At stake is whether the 26-year-old will be slapped with a criminal charge as a result of her August 2007 ding-and-run, at which time she was in possession of a Louisiana, though not California, driver's license.

Spears, who has been MIA throughout the proceedings, might have to put in face time in the court if she's convicted.

"Her lawyer can stand in for the sentencing hearing, but the judge might want it all done on the record," Alec Rose, a Santa Monica criminal defense attorney, tells E! News.

The maximum sentence is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine—not to mention the knowledge that a much less costly and solution, which included zero time behind bars, without the embarrassment of a public trial could have been, had Spears accepted prosecutors' plea deal earlier this month.

Rose, who's not involved in the case, doesn't expect much of a penalty even if the singer is found guilty.

"No one gets sentenced jail time" in these kind of cases, says Rose. "She would probably only
have to pay a fine of few hundred dollars and be on one to three years of summary probation."

Three witnesses, including Spears' father Jamie, testified before Friday morning's closing statements.

For his part, Jamie did his best to justify her out-of-state license and play down the fact that his daughter had tied the knot and twice given birth in the Golden State, saying her real home was and will again be Louisiana.

Source: E! Online