The following italicized article is from www.abcnews.com:With a comeback album in the works, her custody case resolved and her personal life no longer making headlines, Britney Spears appears to be finally leaving her troubled past behind.
The most googled person of 2008, Britney Spears is making her comeback.
Only one remnant remains -– a troubled past without a valid California license. Rather than accept a plea deal that her lawyer says was too harsh, Britney Spears will go to trial.
The singer will most likely not appear in court when the jury trial is scheduled to start Wednesday. Because it's a misdemeanor charge, she is not required to. That the case has gone this far, however, demonstrates that Spears is being unfairly targeted because of her celebrity, her attorney, J. Michael Flanagan, said.
"It's absolutely extraordinary," Flanagan told ABCNews.com.
Flanagan said cases like these are usually reduced to an infraction after the person charged produces a valid license and pays a $10 fee. From the beginning, Flanagan said, the judge and Los Angeles City Attorney's Office were unwilling to do that.
Instead, Flanagan said, the city prosecutor offered a plea deal that would have required Spears to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and accept a year's probation and $150 fine.
Flanagan said he rejected the offer because Spears does not deserve a criminal conviction on her record. "The easiest thing would have been to take the plea," he said. "But it doesn't seem right to me."
Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the city attorney's office, denied that Spears had been singled out. "We've consistently dealt with this case the way we do any other," Mateljan said. "She's decided to continue this process to this point."
The case stems from an August 2007 incident in which Spears hit a parked car in a shopping center and left without notifying the owner. She was originally charged with a misdemeanor hit-and-run. That charge was dismissed in November through a civil compromise, in which Spears agreed to cover the damages and the car's owner agreed to not pursue the case further.
Britney Driving Without Valid License
On Sept 26, 2007, however, the city attorney filed an additional misdemeanor charge. "During a subsequent investigation, we found that she was driving without a valid California license," Mateljan said. "You can't un-ring that bell. We filed that charge along with the original hit-and-run."
Spears, who is originally from Kentwood, La., had a valid Louisiana license. But prosecutors say she violated California Code 12500, which requires drivers to get a California license within 10 days of establishing residency.
Flanagan said the city attorney is using her 2007 divorce papers as evidence. Under oath, she told the court she had been a resident of California for six months.
After being charged with a violation, Spears got her California license on Oct. 2, 2007. Showing the new license is typically enough to reduce the charges, said Flanagan, who has handled mostly driving offenses in his 38 years of practicing law.
"The judge will line up eight or nine at a time and say, 'Do you have a license? OK, see the clerk and pay a $10 fee,'" he said. "Most are not even represented by counsel."
Flanagan estimates that 95 percent of these cases are adjudicated that way.
City attorney spokesman Mateljan said, "I don't know what the exact statistics are. But this incident didn't take place in vacuum. There are other underlying circumstances.
"Typically, these types of cases do settle well before they get to trial," he added. "We feel we've been fair with the offer we put forward. They seem bent on proceeding."
Flanagan has also questioned why the case has been "specially assigned" to Deputy City Attorney Michael Amerian, who, he has pointed out, is running for the position of city attorney.
"This is driving without a valid license, about the least of any matter that could be prosecuted and he's specially assigned to it," Flanagan said. "Why do you think that? They specially assign murder cases. Very seldom do you even see a drunk-driving case specially assigned."
Mateljan denied that Amerian had been "specially assigned" to the case. "We've given this case no special consideration," he said. "It's been assigned as any other case would be assigned. Mr. Amerian is handling this like any other case."
Flanagan has also accused the judge assigned to the case, James A. Steele, of treating the pop star more harshly after he rejected Flanagan's motion to reduce or dismiss the charge.
Source: ABC News
Possibly more than anyone on Earth, Britney Spears’ life is constantly documented by the media, which voraciously reports on the singer’s every step and misstep. But what’s it like to be in her shoes? With her new album, Circus, set for release in just a few weeks, the singer is ready to show the world her side of the story. Britney has joined forces with MTV for a 90-minute documentary about her return to the pop-music spotlight. Tentatively titled “For the Record,” the special is set to air on November 30 at 10 p.m. on MTV, two days before Circus is released on December 2 (the singer’s 27th birthday). “So much has gone on over the last couple of years and there’s a lot that people don’t know about me that I want them to know,” Spears told MTV News in a statement about the special. “I wanted to make this film because I started to feel like I wasn’t being seen in the light that I wanted to be seen in. This is an opportunity to set the record straight and talk about what I’ve been through and where I’m headed.” The documentary combines personal stories with behind-the-scenes footage of her comeback. Cameras follow her to the recording studio, to rehearsals, to press tours, to the video shoot for her latest single, “Womanizer,” and even to her hometown in Louisiana. Backstage footage from her recent triumphant appearance at the Video Music Awards is also featured. Through it all, we hear Britney talking about the hardships that led up to this comeback. “I’ve been through a lot, and there’s a lot people don’t know,” she says in the film. “Sometimes it can get lonely ’cause you don’t open the gate. I’m stuck in this place, and I just cope every day.” Britney also owns up to the mistakes the world has watched her make, and offers some telling insight into how she feels about it all now. “I sit there and I look back,” she says, before asking rhetorically: “I’m a smart person, what the hell was I thinking?” 
