Given a Citation for Shoplifting at Walmart

My question involves criminal law for the state of: North Carolina.

A few days ago I was caught shoplifting paint markers at Walmart. I was called into the back of the room and I fully complied. The total was less than $30 but the police were still called. I was written a citation and told to appear in court. The citation does not say how much I'm going to be fined, etc. It also does not say how much I stole. This is what makes me think that there will be evidence when I go into court for this.

In the room I told them that I was sorry and that I was just trying to make a present but I couldn't afford the supplies. I never signed any forms saying that I was guilty. I purchased a can of spray paint as well. I want to know that if, in court, I can say that I was in and out of my purse looking at my supply list and I didn't realize that I left them in there and since I bought the can of spray paint I had good intentions, I just forgot that I put them in there. However, I'm afraid that Walmart's LPO is going to go to court on that date or they're going to supply evidence of me in the room (not fully admitting, but apologizing for stealing, etc) and that I won't be able to play that story.

I plan on hiring an attorney, but I already have a dismissed charge on my record that was expunged from when I was a minor (although it just got expunged a year ago because we found out they never processed the paperwork fully). I have one year of school left and I'm going to school to be a teacher, so this will really affect my future. I'm never going to do it again and I learned my lesson, but realistically, what will happen next? I need this charge dropped. Not dismissed (because it will still show up in background checks) but dropped completely as if it never happened.
I'm seriously a great student. I make amazing grades, I have scholarships, I'm in an active leadership role in a club on campus. I'm really a good kid, I just screwed up.

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Quoting abc12345

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: North Carolina.

A few days ago I was caught shoplifting paint markers at Walmart. I was called into the back of the room and I fully complied. The total was less than $30 but the police were still called. I was written a citation and told to appear in court. The citation does not say how much I'm going to be fined, etc. It also does not say how much I stole. This is what makes me think that there will be evidence when I go into court for this.

In the room I told them that I was sorry and that I was just trying to make a present but I couldn't afford the supplies. I never signed any forms saying that I was guilty. I purchased a can of spray paint as well. I want to know that if, in court, I can say that I was in and out of my purse looking at my supply list and I didn't realize that I left them in there and since I bought the can of spray paint I had good intentions, I just forgot that I put them in there. However, I'm afraid that Walmart's LPO is going to go to court on that date or they're going to supply evidence of me in the room (not fully admitting, but apologizing for stealing, etc) and that I won't be able to play that story.

I plan on hiring an attorney, but I already have a dismissed charge on my record that was expunged from when I was a minor (although it just got expunged a year ago because we found out they never processed the paperwork fully). I have one year of school left and I'm going to school to be a teacher, so this will really affect my future. I'm never going to do it again and I learned my lesson, but realistically, what will happen next? I need this charge dropped. Not dismissed (because it will still show up in background checks) but dropped completely as if it never happened.
I'm seriously a great student. I make amazing grades, I have scholarships, I'm in an active leadership role in a club on campus. I'm really a good kid, I just screwed up.

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So you want to compound your screw up by lying in court? Good kids don't steal and then they don't consider lying in court about it. You admitted you were stealing. The markers NEVER should have been in your purse. Quite frankly, your morals are questionable. You want to be teacher but you steal and lie and don't see issues with it unless you are caught. Not a good example or good traits for a teacher.

Your grades, "leadership" extra-curricular activities, scholarship, etc. is just proof to the judge that you are smart enough to know better, but decided to steal anyway. It is not likely to garner you any leniency at all. Beyond that, I have to second everything Ohiogal said above.

On a further note…with many years of experience, I can honestly say that I have never known anyone to steal paint markers or spray paint with any other purpose in mind than tagging and/or other vandalism. When people (in my experience ALWAYS someone under 21 yoa) steal those items, they are stealing supplies to facilitate vandalism crimes - they may call it "street art" or whatever, but it is criminal vandalism nonetheless. If, as I strongly suspect, that was what you intended to use your stolen loot for, then again you cannot truthfully call yourself a "really good kid" nor are you worthy of any "leadership" position. At least until you grow up, learn responsibility and respect of other people's property, and gain a moral compass.

Bottom line, yes, I suspect that this is going to "really affect (sp) my future." (as a scholarship student with "amazing" grades, you should really learn the difference between effect and affect) Actions have consequences and you apparently didn't learn your lesson when you got your first expungement. I doubt there is any way in the world that this is going to be "dropped completely as if it never happened." There may be deferred prosecution options available, but you are going to have to face both the short and long term consequences of your decisions. You may well have your teaching career delayed for a considerable period of time until you can show potential employers that you have both the ethics and judgment to be trusted with such a position.

No, you won't be able to "play that story." It will not work; they do have evidence you shoplifted and they recorded notes on what you said in the office. They will also have more credibility than you in court.

Just the other day I wrote a report on a shoplifting incident in which I noted that, although the subject had stated that she did not intend to be involved in the theft and claimed to only have held an item for a minute, in the office she "spoke in a low voice with which she seemed to think I could not hear, saying to the other subject 'I wish I would have just paid for it, I had the money.'"

If she pleads not guilty I can't wait to go to court on that one and testify as to what I heard, what statements she made before being escorted back in, and what my video shows - it's ALL incriminating and any one element is probably enough to overcome reasonable doubt; with all of the above, I can't see how she could not be convicted.

I need this charge dropped. Not dismissed (because it will still show up in background checks) but dropped completely as if it never happened.

Not gonna happen unless you've got a time machine in your back pocket and are able to go back in time to a point before you stole and make a different choice this time. You sure did screw up and if you've never learned before that actions have consequences, you're about to learn it now. The time to worry about having a new charge on your record was before you stole - that time is now past and the consequences outside your control.

Doesn't really apply to the OP, because he/she is almost certainly going to get convicted, but having charges on a court's website that got dropped or dismissed is not the be-all, end-all dream killer.

I personally know of two cops - one arrested for felonious assault, the other for rape - whose charges will show up if you search their names on the court's website; both were acquitted at trial and are still police officers today. Sure, another potential employer might question it, but if one otherwise seems to be a good, upstanding candidate, they could probably say "Well, the charges were without merit, and a jury agreed."