Question: My fiance and I were charged with  misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, because one of our dogs buckets wasn't clean enough, one dog has used the bathroom in his kennel and we hadn't had time to clean it that morning and when he spilled his water it made it look as if it hadn't been cleaned in days, we had one dog who we told them had health problems and wasn't in the best condition, but because we didn't take her to the vet, we were treating her at home, they said it was animal cruelty. The party who pressed charges against, I personally have negative history with. The judge basically looked over their evidence and judged us by what they had to say and didn't believe anything we said. We were both given a 1000 fine, 1 yr on probation, and 30 days jail time, which we have to do 8 days a month for 4 months. The jail time is causing a hardship on my job and with my children. Our public defender had us enter a blind plea under nolo contender. Am I able to appeal the jail time or ask for other arrangements?