Shoplifting Charge With a 25-Year-Old Prior Conviction

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Georgia

Was caught shoplifting under $40 recently and also have a Misdemeanor for same offense 25yrs ago from a different state. Will the current state view that as a second offense(will they even see my history from another state)? I was 18-20 yrs old when the 1st occurred. The recent one had cameras and I'd rather not fight it. I'd like to settle this quickly even at the arraignment if possible. I'm willing to sell my motorcycle and pay any fine offered by state, just don't want jailtime because I'll lose my job.

Really concerned about it being a 2nd offense? Is it after 2 decades?

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Quoting darnwell

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Really concerned about it being a 2nd offense? Is it after 2 decades?

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It is a second offense, and yes, Georgia will likely know about the first.

Other than these two shoplifting incidents what does your record look like? Is it otherwise clean?

The prosecutor and judge will take into account the long gap between arrests, but what has happened in those 25 years makes all the difference. You need a lawyer, how willing the prosecutor is to work with you is going to be largely dependent on what they think about the situation. If they think you are generally a law abiding citizen who had two momentary lapses in judgement 25 years a part, then they are likely to work with you on a plea with a sentence that is built around community service, and fines. If they believe that you are some one who has probably shoplifted many times, and only was caught twice in 25 years (and other criminal history will contribute to this picture of you) then they will pursue a more sever sentence. In GA, the judge can allow you to serve jail time at home, or at times that do not effect your work schedule.

Get a lawyer, preferably one who is familiar with the prosecutor and the judge who will be handling the case. Be 100% honest with your lawyer, and let him work out a deal with the prosecutor.

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Quoting brownj12

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Other than these two shoplifting incidents what does your record look like? Is it otherwise clean?

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Very clean, except for a Misdemeanor in 1996 'expired vessel registration failure to pay'. I do have a good attorney that has done my living will and couple other personal legal real-estate issues for me, but haven't got the nerve to contact him because of the embarrassment. I have the funds to pay, just still beating myself up and stressing over possible jail time/losing job/ and my house dogs......no one to take care of them when I'm not around.

I'm upset I didn't have this 1st Misdemeanor removed from my record after 25-30 yrs.

Do not plead guilty. Obtain counsel (they've seem it all before) and fight the charge. Keep this theft charge off your record.

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Quoting bam!

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Do not plead guilty. Obtain counsel (they've seem it all before) and fight the charge. Keep this theft charge off your record.

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Bad advice here.

If a retail store stopped you, and further, decided to prosecute you, they have great evidence, probably to include video evidence. You have almost NO chance of fighting this and winning.

And for you to even fight it, you will likely have to testify in order to have any sort of hope at a defense - and when you testify, your prior is able to be brought in for consideration by the judge and jury.

You will not win this.

The fact that the 2nd offense is after two decades is worse for your situation, not better. It shows that after all that time, you really haven't learned much and are still the same person that you were back then.

How old are you, anyway? Aren't you a little old to be shoplifting?

No one knows how big of a deal this will be because we don't know the jurisdiction and court involved. Around here, our judge would throw you in jail for 90 days, noting what I noted above. Wherever you are, the judge might just fine you.

Either way, you are still engaging in behavior that is more befitting of a teenager or an adult dirtbag, not someone who is a productive member of society.

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Quoting darnwell

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I'm upset I didn't have this 1st Misdemeanor removed from my record after 25-30 yrs.

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One more thing. Having the earlier charge expunged wouldn't have made any difference. The court and LE can still see it; the only place it would have helped you would be with background checks for employment, which apparently haven't been a problem for you.

Why would you plead guilty to a crime? It is the states job to prove your guilt. Retail has high turnover, they may not show up. The video may not play. All of these things "prove" guilt. Without them, they don't have a case.

Pleading guilty is the worst you can do. Make them prove it. By pleading not guilty, it's not saying you didn't do it, it's saying "hey state, prove my guilt"

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Quoting bam!

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Why would you plead guilty to a crime? It is the states job to prove your guilt. Retail has high turnover, they may not show up. The video may not play. All of these things "prove" guilt. Without them, they don't have a case.

Pleading guilty is the worst you can do. Make them prove it. By pleading not guilty, it's not saying you didn't do it, it's saying "hey state, prove my guilt"

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Bam I'm the original poster and I understand the process of pleading not guilty, but no way will I let it got to trial. I expect my atty will have me plead NOT guilty at arraignment, then I'll have my atty to reach out to the prosecutor asap and make a deal. Over & done with is what I want. I don't care if the fine is max and I spend many days at the humane society.

Having a previous misdemeanor from 25-30 yrs ago won't hurt my case I've been told. I was 18 and just plead guilty back then. Paid $50bucks and went on my way. No, I'm not concerned it being on my record, I have & will work for family till I die no doubt.

I'm certain of one thing.......I'll never even pick up a free penny on the floor at a retail outlet.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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Bad advice here.

If a retail store stopped you, and further, decided to prosecute you, they have great evidence, probably to include video evidence. You have almost NO chance of fighting this and winning.

And for you to even fight it, you will likely have to testify in order to have any sort of hope at a defense - and when you testify, your prior is able to be brought in for consideration by the judge and jury.

You will not win this.

The fact that the 2nd offense is after two decades is worse for your situation, not better. It shows that after all that time, you really haven't learned much and are still the same person that you were back then.

How old are you, anyway? Aren't you a little old to be shoplifting?

No one knows how big of a deal this will be because we don't know the jurisdiction and court involved. Around here, our judge would throw you in jail for 90 days, noting what I noted above. Wherever you are, the judge might just fine you.

Either way, you are still engaging in behavior that is more befitting of a teenager or an adult dirtbag, not someone who is a productive member of society.

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You have no idea what you are talking about, you have no idea of the facts of the case. There is almost no chance a judge will throw some one in jail for 90 days based on a second shoplifting charge 25 years after the first. If they are looking at any jail time it would likley be a few days or weekends, a more likely sentence would be a combination of probation, fines, a shop lifting rehabilitation/education course, and community service.

The gap since the last criminal activity will work in the original poster's favor, not against them. When looking at criminal history the judge and prosecutor are looking for patterns. Two charges in a short period of time, or charges where the value of property stolen increases with each successive incident would indicate a pattern, and the judge may be interested in issuing a harsher sentence to try to stop this behavior from continuing.

Your advice to not plead guilty is absolute non-sense. You have no idea what evidence the prosecution has. Even if the prosecution has a perfect case and the OP knows that it still would not make sense to plead guilty. Pleading not guilty at arraignment is always the right plan, it is not saying that you did not do it. It is saying that you wish to exercise your rights.

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Quoting darnwell

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Bam I'm the original poster and I understand the process of pleading not guilty, but no way will I let it got to trial. I expect my atty will have me plead NOT guilty at arraignment, then I'll have my atty to reach out to the prosecutor asap and make a deal. Over & done with is what I want. I don't care if the fine is max and I spend many days at the humane society.

Having a previous misdemeanor from 25-30 yrs ago won't hurt my case I've been told. I was 18 and just plead guilty back then. Paid $50bucks and went on my way. No, I'm not concerned it being on my record, I have & will work for family till I die no doubt.

I'm certain of one thing.......I'll never even pick up a free penny on the floor at a retail outlet.

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It sounds like you know what needs to be done, despite DeputyDog's advice. Let your lawyer know what type of sentence would be preferable, and he can handle it from there.

Best of luck.

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Quoting brownj12

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It sounds like you know what needs to be done, despite DeputyDog's advice. Let your lawyer know what type of sentence would be preferable, and he can handle it from there.

Best of luck.

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Thanks brownj, I'll bring this thread back after I settle and let the readers know what happened.

Really? My years working in the criminal justice system as well as retail loss prevention inform me differently. You don't think that any judge would put someone in jail for 90 days? I hate to break this to you, since you apparently know everything about every court in this nation, but there are judges and courts out there that have locked people up for a lot longer for a lot less than a second shoplifting. I specifically said that not every place is the same, but I emphasized that the court that I WORK WITH would likely do this. You do realize that in some rural parts of some states there are people sitting in jail for 30 days on a FIRST SHOPLIFTING right? It does happen.

As to the gap - again, I've seen a lot of people go before many different judges. More than a couple judges would conclude that it appears that this guy is the same person he was 25 years ago - a criminal. And God knows how many times he did it in between and didn't get caught.[/

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Quoting bam!

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Why would you plead guilty to a crime? It is the states job to prove your guilt. Retail has high turnover, they may not show up. The video may not play. All of these things "prove" guilt. Without them, they don't have a case.

Pleading guilty is the worst you can do. Make them prove it. By pleading not guilty, it's not saying you didn't do it, it's saying "hey state, prove my guilt"

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Why would you plead guilty to a crime? Oh, I don't know - because you know that you did it and actually have some clue about taking responsibility for your actions instead of always trying to "get out of it" by any means possible.

This shows your character.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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Why would you plead guilty to a crime? Oh, I don't know - because you know that you did it and actually have some clue about taking responsibility for your actions instead of always trying to "get out of it" by any means possible.

This shows your character.

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You might wanna tone it down a bit. bam! is a long time poster and is also a long time LP professional so he knows how things work.

Yes, people who are truly guilty would save a lot of time by pleading guilty and I support that idea. But we live in a country where people have the right to have the state prove it's case, even if it is a 100% done deal. They can exercise that right as they see fit. Some do it to see if they can squeak out of it somehow, some do it for spite to waste "the man's" time and money or for whatever other reason. It doesn't matter why they do it, only that it is their right to do so.

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Quoting free9man

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You might wanna tone it down a bit. bam! is a long time poster and is also a long time LP professional so he knows how things work.

Yes, people who are truly guilty would save a lot of time by pleading guilty and I support that idea. But we live in a country where people have the right to have the state prove it's case, even if it is a 100% done deal. They can exercise that right as they see fit. Some do it to see if they can squeak out of it somehow, some do it for spite to waste "the man's" time and money or for whatever other reason. It doesn't matter why they do it, only that it is their right to do so.

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If he is an LP professional, then I'm not sure why he is interested in giving advice to people on beating SL convictions.

And sure, it is someone's "right" to plead not guilty and try to "squeak out of it." And it's my right to comment on that.

If the case is bad, plead not guilty and beat it. If you want to legitimately get a better deal for yourself, sure, plead not guilty and see what the prosecution is willing to work out with you.

But this notion that you should always abdicate responsibility for your actions because you can, and that this idea should be lauded, is laughable.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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If he is an LP professional, then I'm not sure why he is interested in giving advice to people on beating SL convictions.

And sure, it is someone's "right" to plead not guilty and try to "squeak out of it." And it's my right to comment on that.

If the case is bad, plead not guilty and beat it. If you want to legitimately get a better deal for yourself, sure, plead not guilty and see what the prosecution is willing to work out with you.

But this notion that you should always abdicate responsibility for your actions because you can, and that this idea should be lauded, is laughable.

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I am not advocating that people beat the SL conviction. I also know that SL is something that people do consistently. My mother, my friend, your cousin, your neighbor any one of them could be a shoplifter. My advice is to not go in and throw in the towel right away. You are making the DA's job so easy for them. There is not one reason to go in, plead guilty and throw yourself at the mercy of the court. A wise man would do the following. Plead not guilty. Obtain legal counsel. Figure out your course of action. The courts offer diversion and other programs in order to keep these charges off your record. Why would they do that? Maybe because people make mistakes.

Store level LP are notoriously bad at a lot of things. I am not saying everyone, but the ones that are good become LEO's or move up into management and stop catching shoplifters. The ones that stay store level can be decent, but "most" prefer to sleep in, miss court etc.

Lets be realistic. The OP probably has gotten away with stealing for over 25 years, who knows, who cares?