A Centralia man was in court for 15 minutes, where he was given a guilty plea for his trial on a felony for driving while having a revoked license. 31-year-old TJ Howard is still facing multiple other felony counts of DUI and traffic cases in Marion County. Howard was free on $15,000 cash bond, after he failed to appear in court on roughly 30 outstanding cases in February. He was ultimately located and arrested in California back in June, before being returned to Illinois. According to the Marion County State’s Attorney, Howard had been advised at an August 2nd hearing that if he failed to appear at his trial, he would be tried for absentia. Howard’s attorney was in court and at the trial, but the court decided to proceed in the case without Howard. No bond warrant was issued on Monday for Howard’s arrest, and a status hearing on his sentencing was scheduled for Friday. It was noted that Howard could potentially face between 1 to 6 years in prison for a Class 4 felony for missing the trial. He failed to appear in court back in February, with nearly all of his $65,000 cash bond that he had posted on his nearly 12 felony and DUI cases, dating between August 2015 and May 2017, was forfeited to the county. He since posted another $15,000 cash bond, when he was returned form California. Prosecutors had earlier agreed to try Howards on just one of the 3 felony charges against him for a 2016 case, in which he was originally charged with 2 Class 4 felony counts of aggravated fleeing and eluding police. He was also given 2 counts for driving while having a revoked or suspended license, because of a DUI. Monday’s trial was one of the last cases for defense, as he had been appointed to the bench. His attorney recently withdrew from the counsel, after a report came in of drug trafficking in Marion County against a reported relative of Howards, who was 59-year-old Anthonette “Big Mama” Strowder.