What's the Usual Outcome for a Shoplifting Charge

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Texas

Im new here... I have been going through the threads for a few days non-stop. I'm wondering if anyone can point me in a direction where people have come back and shared how their shoplifting charge ended up? Preferably someone that was charged with a class b misdemeanor. I'm waiting for the lawyers to call me back and I'm just completely embarrassed and ashamed of my actions and I can't sleep or eat so I was just hoping to learn more about what I can do to actually avoid any jail time. I was also hoping I could find out if anyone on here actually had to serve jail time for a first offense class b theft. Thank you in advance.

I know the possibilities, I just would like to hear of others own experiences.

A judge in NJ that sentenced a person to jail time for shoplifting has nothing to do with what a judge in TX will do with the same charge. Let's move things even closer for you. What a judge in Dallas, TX will do and what a judge in Waco, TX will do are two different things. There is no standard what judge will do.
Your best bet is to work with your lawyer as he/she will know the court better then any of us.

Chances are you won't get jail,you want to see if you can avoid a conviction,so a job or apartment in the future won't find out. Or you limit the chances of that happening. Besides pretrial diversion or a straight out dismal,both are probably a long shot. You want to see if this can be reduced to a class c misdemeanor and then get adjudication withheld. This result would allow you to get the charge expunged in the future.

I did reply to your question on my own thread where you asked a question, but thought I'd post real quick for you here too. I'm not in Texas so I'm not real sure what a Class B or C misdemeanor is for you. Here if the attempted theft was for under $750 it's third degree theft which is the 'lowest class' misdemeanor charge. I had an incident 5yrs ago where I was charged with that, also called petty theft here.

I had no record at all, had never been in any trouble in my life. I went to court on my court date and before my case was even called by the judge the prosecutor called me up to talk to him privately. Can't remember what all we talked about, but what they did was give me a one year diversion. That meant the case was basically 'set aside' for that year, and I had to stay out of trouble obviously and commit no crimes and return to court in a year. I paid the court fines which were around a couple hundred dollars. Then when I went to court a year later and had obviously been in no other trouble, the case was dismissed. There is no conviction or crime that shows up on my record, Im very fortunate for that. I don't know the laws in Texas or what the prosecutors are like there, but from what I've read on many of these posts in this forum it seems to be a pretty common outcome for a first offense, in many different states.

Don't let the worry and the stress eat at you. I know it's very hard, I read your comment on my post and understand all the circumstaces surrounding the incident and how/why it happened. Make sure you go read my full response on my thread too so you can see more of what I was told by my attorney. I think you have a very good chance of coming out of this with a clean record. I totally understand the shame that you feel. You made one bad decision, that doesn't make you a bad person. Sending you my best wishes and would love to know how this turns out for you if you remember to come back in a couple months and update the thread:)

This person is probably charged with a class B misdemeanor,a class C misdemeanor in Texas is the lowest level. Class C,can be expunged if adjudication is with held,a plea bargain to a reduce charge would give her this option.


Sometimes a strict da,judge or if it's a small town,they might not offer a diversion program. A lot times,for 1st offenses,that are low level crimes,it is offered. If not a reduction should help them to be able to expunge it in the future. People get so nervous about jail,etc but they forget the conquesence a criminal record will have. It's important to avoid that if it's an option. Sometimes a person commits a minor crime,pays a $100-$200 dollar fine,is happy and thinking ok no big deal,no scary jail,etc. Then a few years later they don't get a job b.c of a simple misdemeanor.