Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

You found out the hard way why you need lawyers, and you should have gotten one in 1995.

We all have to guess here but for some petty misdemeanors, you can post a bond and forfeit in lieu of appearance. That is treated the same as a guilty plea. When you posted bond, it was YOUR responsibility to stay in touch with the court to learn your court date.

You do need to pay a lawyer now to research all this, and the cost will be far more than hiring one in the original case. You may likely not have a fixable problem, but you have reinforced to others the need to hire a lawyer in EVERY case. But you have to hope some step was missed (unlikely but possible).

Sure. Now you can retain an attorney to research and correct a 16 year old problem. The cost will probably be in the neighborhood of $ 3500 or more. The attorney must pull records of the arrest, conviction and verify that there is evidence that you appeared in court. I suspect that when you were released there was soem arcane procedure in place for the court to enter a plea IF you failed to come back to court. However, you can challenge everything that happened to you, and probably undo all of it. But at a high cost. Good luck.