Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

You should have a lawyer representing you, and she should know how to do this. If you chose to represent yourself, then you made a big mistake. Given this website's five-day lag time, it was also a mistake to wait until five days before your hearing to post your question.

When circumstances prevent a defendant or his lawyer from adequately preparing, he or she can ask the court to continue the trial or other hearing. If the request is reasonable, the court will probably agree. But the request has to be made at or before the subject court date. As you might guess, requests made beforehand are much more likely to be granted than those made at the last minute. In part this is because the court and the prosecutor will already have spent their time preparing, and it may be too late for them to use the day for other work. If witnesses or other individuals had to come to court only to find out that you want them to come back another time, the court may not be willing to accommodate you,

But even a last-minute request can be granted if the circumstances justify it. If your emergency arose just a few days beforehand and if you had no opportunity to bring it to the court's attention until the day of the hearing (I note that there was a three-day weekend right before your court date), the court may give you more time.

I cannot fathom why you would represent yourself in a criminal matter. If you could not afford an attorney, you had the right to ask the court to appoint the public defender to represent you, who would be able to answer all of your questions, including this one.