Minor Caught Committing Retail Theft

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Quoting Disagreeable

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Civil demands are usually legislative in nature. They usually allow an ever increasing amount based on attorney fees. The company that sends the letter is not necessarily the lawyer that goes to court.

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All Civil Demands are legislative in nature.

My lawyer had me do a 'no contest' plea also known as nolo contendere for a reason. Depending on which State you live in, a plea of no contest for a minor criminal charge can't be used against you in a civil lawsuit. OP, consider pleading this if you're given no other choice, but if you have an attorney, listen to him/her instead. A court CAN refuse your no contest plea depending on the seriousness of the event, but this will be a life saver in the end.

Note: A no contest plea is an equivalent of a guilty plea. You're just not admitting guilt/contesting the court case any further is what the plea basically means. You'll be convicted, so make sure you get an attorney if you're confused on how to continue.

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Quoting wisegeek.com

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One reason a defendant in a criminal court case may decide to plead no contest is the potential for a costly civil lawsuit at a later date. By pleading nolo contendere to a relatively minor criminal charge, he or she could pay a fine, spend a minimal amount of time in jail, or perform community service. Only a few general details of the criminal trial proceedings could later be brought up in a civil trial. If a public figure assaults an intrusive tabloid reporter, for example, he or she could plead no contest to simple assault charges during the criminal hearing and receive a relatively minor sentence. If that same reporter decided to sue the public figure for damages in a civil lawsuit, the defendant's no contest plea could not be construed as an admission of guilt, and there would be no detailed allocution to enter as evidence.

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Quoting Security Consultant

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I've got to ask this question - you are 14 yrs. old. Who were you released to?

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I was released to my parents, sorry i forgot to mention that in the paragraph

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Quoting JasonAe

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My lawyer had me do a 'no contest' plea also known as nolo contendere for a reason. Depending on which State you live in, a plea of no contest for a minor criminal charge can't be used against you in a civil lawsuit. OP, consider pleading this if you're given no other choice, but if you have an attorney, listen to him/her instead. A court CAN refuse your no contest plea depending on the seriousness of the event, but this will be a life saver in the end.

Note: A no contest plea is an equivalent of a guilty plea. You're just not admitting guilt/contesting the court case any further is what the plea basically means. You'll be convicted, so make sure you get an attorney if you're confused on how to continue.

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but this will be a life saver in the end.

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Not for the OP it won't.

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I signed a paper saying i was guilty and that i was not allowed back there.

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and to correct you, a nolo contendre plea cannot be used against you in any court but the purpose is not that. It is to avoid admitting guilt which could be used against you in another court process.

. WHile a guilty plea is an admission and acceptance of guilt, a nolo contendre plea simply is that you do not accept or admit guilt but you agree to accept the consequences as if you were found guilty.

Thank you for the post it really helped me know more about my situation. I really appreciate it

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Quoting jk

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and to correct you, a nolo contendre plea cannot be used against you in any court but the purpose is not that. It is to avoid admitting guilt which could be used against you in another court process.

. WHile a guilty plea is an admission and acceptance of guilt, a nolo contendre plea simply is that you do not accept or admit guilt but you agree to accept the consequences as if you were found guilty.

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Rewording words for the win.

That court process you speak of, is also known as a 'civil lawsuit,' (because you can't be tried criminally twice for the same crime unless it wasn't resolved) which obviously takes place in court.

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Quoting JasonAe

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Note: A no contest plea is an equivalent of a guilty plea. You're just not admitting guilt/contesting the court case any further is what the plea basically means. You'll be convicted so make sure you get an attorney if you're confused on how to continue.

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That quote, tho' -- Best phrase ever.

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JasonAe;760181]Rewording words for the win.

That court process you speak of, is also known as a 'civil lawsuit,' (because you can't be tried criminally twice for the same crime unless it wasn't resolved) which obviously takes place in court.

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Um, I know what a civil suit is but what is your point? Strangely enough, you can effectively be tried for the same crime twice in many situations but that isn't my point;

a nolo contendre cannot be used against you in any court, including another criminal trial. You seem to be ignoring the fact that the defendent may face other criminal charges either in associtation with the current issue or in the future where a plea of guilty could be damaging to their defense in those cases. It isn;t applicable for only some subsequent civil proceeding.

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That quote, tho' -- Best phrase ever.[/QUOTE]

No, not the best quote because depending on the state, you will not be considered to be "convicted". You will be found guilty. Is there a difference? Sometimes but irrelevant. I just want to make the point you are wrong.

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Quoting jk

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Um, I know what a civil suit is but what is your point? Strangely enough, you can effectively be tried for the same crime twice in many situations but that isn't my point;

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Once you are convicted and found guilty, that is that. Have you ever heard about "Double Jeopardy?" It's time to do a little research before blurting out an answer. Unless, and UNLESS there is more evidence introduced, a person can't be tried for the same crime again (in this case, Retail Theft).

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Quoting jk

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a nolo contendre cannot be used against you in any court, including another criminal trial. You seem to be ignoring the fact that the defendent may face other criminal charges either in associtation with the current issue or in the future where a plea of guilty could be damaging to their defense in those cases. It isn;t applicable for only some subsequent civil proceeding.

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It's spelled out "nolo contendere," but that isn't what we're both worried about. Well, since the story is ABSOLUTELY limited because we don't know the actual and specific facts up in-person, we're going to assume that this is the only criminal charge he has. Unless, you wanted to include the fact that he has a first-degree murder for attempting to escape LP and the officer by killing somebody. But, that would be irrelevant because we're only given the facts that the OP initially posted.

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Quoting jk

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No, not the best quote because depending on the state, you will not be considered to be "convicted". You will be found guilty. Is there a difference? Sometimes but irrelevant. I just want to make the point you are wrong.

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Pleading 'guilty' results in a guilty charge.

Pleading 'no contest' means that you don't intend to continue contesting the court, BUT the court will find you GUILTY.

:)

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I'm also going to assume that you live in the United States and not in the UK. ;)

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JasonAe;760193]Once you are convicted and found guilty, that is that. Have you ever heard about "Double Jeopardy?" It's time to do a little research before blurting out an answer. Unless, and UNLESS there are more evidence introduced, a person can't be tried for the same crime again (in this case, Retail Theft).

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you might want to do a bit of research regarding what appears to be double jeopardy but has been ruled to not be such when a state authority and a federal authority both prosecute for what appears to be the exact same crime.

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It's spelled out "nolo contendere,"

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yep, it is. That's a bad habit (spelling it incorrectly) and my spell check doesn't correct it for some reason.


but that isn't what we're both worried about.

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Well, since the story is ABSOLUTELY limited because we don't know the actual and specific facts up in-person, we're going to assume that this is the only criminal charge he has. Unless, you wanted to include the fact that he has a first-degree murder for attempting to escape LP and the officer by killing somebody. But, that would be irrelevant because we're only given the facts that the OP initially posted.

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You can assume whatever you want but the fact remains, while you limited your claim of value to only a very limited situation, I told you that is not the only reason such a pleading could be important.

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Pleading 'guilty' results in a guilty charge.

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a guilty charge? What's that. Did you mean maybe a finding of guilty as charged? There is a difference in what you said and what I said.


It results in a finding of guilt but that is not what you said. You said it resulted in being convicted. In many situations you would be right but there are situations and reasons to differentiate between a finding of guilty based upon a guilty plea and being convicted and being ruled guilty.

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Pleading 'no contest' means that you don't intend to continue contesting the court, BUT the court will find you GUILTY.

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actually, again you are wrong. What it means is you are intentionally not admitting to being guilty of the charge but you will accept being treated as if you were found guilty. Again, that does not mean you stop all contests before the court as the finding of guilt is but one part of even a criminal trial. There are other phases of a trial and other concerns where although you accept a finding of guilt by the court, you would still defend yourself to achieve a result different than the court may order otherwise.

You are truly not a master of rewording and changing answers.

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Quoting jk

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You seem to be ignoring the fact that the defendent may face other criminal charges either in associtation with the current issue or in the future where a plea of guilty could be damaging to their defense in those cases.

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Quoting jk

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You can assume whatever you want but the fact remains, while you limited your claim of value to only a very limited situation, I told you that is not the only reason such a pleading could be important.

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Please, quit jumping around and being ignorant. And, as I said in my original post, pleading 'No Contest' cannot be used against you in a civil lawsuit, but I was only specifically talking about civil lawsuits itself. I didn't say I was excluding criminal cases as well.

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actually, again you are wrong. What it means is you are intentionally not admitting to being guilty of the charge but you will accept being treated as if you were found guilty. Again, that does not mean you stop all contests before the court as the finding of guilt is but one part of even a criminal trial. There are other phases of a trial and other concerns where although you accept a finding of guilt by the court, you would still defend yourself to achieve a result different than the court may order otherwise.

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If I am so wrong, could you please go to your local DA or SAS and do an interview for me? Different states could define the word 'no contest' differently because every state has slightly different to extremely different laws (for example: some states don't have a death penalty whereas others do). I'm pretty sure you are the wrong one, but again, state laws define crimes differently.