The lawyer representing the owner of a day care that was shut down last week says the real story began back in 2010 when Lawanda Jackson was arrested on a domestic battery charge.

"She just wants her side to come out," attorney A. Wellington Barlow said.

A day after Jackson was arrested, she appeared before a judge, just like any other inmate would. According to court documents, she entered a plea of no contest.

But Barlow said Jackson was worried she could lose her day care license if she entered the plea. The documents say she raised the issue in court.

Barlow believes she was given bad advice from her previous lawyer, leading her to think the plea would not affect her license, but it turns out it did.

Under state law, it was a disqualifying offense for someone working in a child care facility, which is why the Department of Children and Families shut down Tiny Blessings child care on Friday.

"It was just too quick. That decision shouldn't have been made in such a quick time frame," Barlow said of the no contest plea. "She had just been arrested. She was going before a judge within 24 hours. They should've just entered a not guilty plea and just passed the case to give her the time to take a look at it."

DCF officials said they also believe that Jackson got some bad advice on what plea to enter, and they say once they found out, they tried to work with her by giving her a chance to apply for an exemption and sending her a certified letter. But they say she never responded.

"We had tried to see what could be done, and for many months, she simply did not apply for that needed exemption," DCF spokesman John Harrell said.

DCF officials say Jackson did not apply for an exemption until last month. But Barlow said his issue was never with DCF but with what happened that day in court.

"As far as I can tell, DCF did exactly what they were supposed to do under the circumstances, so the beef is not with DCF," he said.