Shoplifting at Macy's

"Most of the programs" are irrelevant to your situation. You need to find out what, if any, programs are offered in your county, and whether you qualify for those programs.

Yesterday I received a summons from my county court with my court date and everything on it. I am scared to death. I was hoping I would just get a fine so I could mail it and it would be done with but I have to appear in court. I am terrified. The "complaint" section says that I violated misdemeanor theft in the first degree. My friend that I was with is being charged with the same thing but also another 1st degree misdemeanor for having possession of a criminal tool (the eas-ink tag remover to steal the clothes). I am afraid that she is going to get me in more trouble. I have never been to court in my life and I have no idea what to do or say. I called the court and they said that I could sign up for a public defender on the day of my trial. Do I have to pay all the fines ON my court date? Because I definitely won't have enough money by then. Any advice?? Please help me!

In most cases court allows payments on fines

OK good. The court also told me that there are basic court costs that are being assessed to my case. These total $92. Do these need to be paid before or the day of court or will it just be included in my fine?

That you should probably call courthouse about

just so you know most of them will do payments but they will not be low. THe judge will want all the money within 6 months and if you are lucky a year. So start saving. What you did was a crime so you do not get off w ith just a fine! you have to appear in court and you can just plead guility and get your sentence,., which could be fines, community service, jail, etc.

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Quoting redtoy92

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just so you know most of them will do payments but they will not be low. THe judge will want all the money within 6 months and if you are lucky a year. So start saving. What you did was a crime so you do not get off w ith just a fine! you have to appear in court and you can just plead guility and get your sentence,., which could be fines, community service, jail, etc.

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Do I have to plead guilty? I was going to get a public defender and try to lessen my charges at least a little bit.

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Quoting beautifullybroken22

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Do I have to plead guilty? I was going to get a public defender and try to lessen my charges at least a little bit.

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you do not need to plead guilty. If you do not then you will get a new court date and have a bench trial where the LP and the police officer who came to your shoplifting will have to show up and show what evendice they have and say what they heard and saw. Then you will get a chance to get up and tell your side. then the judge will decide. But you will be found guility. YOu really are not going to get your charges lesssened.. What you should ask for is to get in a program that will take this off your record after so much time and you doing what ever the programs asks for. That is what I would seek from a public defender. So if they can give you a program like that then plead gulity and do what they ask and get this out of your life

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Quoting redtoy92

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you do not need to plead guilty. If you do not then you will get a new court date and have a bench trial where the LP and the police officer who came to your shoplifting will have to show up and show what evendice they have and say what they heard and saw. Then you will get a chance to get up and tell your side. then the judge will decide. But you will be found guility. YOu really are not going to get your charges lesssened.. What you should ask for is to get in a program that will take this off your record after so much time and you doing what ever the programs asks for. That is what I would seek from a public defender. So if they can give you a program like that then plead gulity and do what they ask and get this out of your life

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I recently contacted an expungement attorney and they said that after one year of conviction i can have this completely off my record. so do you suggest that i just plead guilty and pay the fines? or is there any chance at all that the case might be dismissed or i could be found not guilty? again, i have never been to court in my LIFE so i have no idea how the judicial system works. thanks for your help, redtoy. i appreciate it!

As you say, you're consulting a lawyer. So why not ask your lawyer?

No one other than your Attorney should be telling you how to plead.

Well i can't have my record expunged until exactly one year after my conviction. Right now I do not have an attorney. I will have one when I try to get my record expunged. However, I am going to request a public defender when I go in for my court date (that's what the court told me to do when I called).

My friend and I were just going to plead guilty since we already admitted to the LP people that we attempted to steal the merchendise and gave it back. How can we say we're not guilty?...We can't! LOL

Ask your Attorney about diversion. Diversion can be a means to meet your obligation to courts but not have a conviction on your record!

Diversion programs or deferred sentences (where, typically, you enter a plea but aren't convicted if you successfully complete probation) are not universally avalailable, but a local lawyer should be able to tell you what the options are in your county.

I kind of want to just plead guilty and get this over with. I know there will be many consequences with pleading guilty but I have a feeling that I am going to be found guilty anyway even if I try to say I'm not. I absolutely can NOT afford an attorney at this time and the court costs/fines are already going to be too much. I heard public defenders don't do anything. I JUST WANT TO GET THIS DONE!!!!!!!!! And as soon as I am off probation (if I even get probation), I will try to get an expungement since this is my first and WILL be my last conviction. I need advice. PLEASE help me. And don't say "talk to your attorney" and all that stuff bc I CANT AFFORD ONE. I am 19 year old college student!!! lol

Look into diversion programs

So if there is a diversion program that I can do, should I just plead guilty? Can I find out if there are any programs BEFORE I plead guilty? I don't get this at all.

Yes you can ask your Public defender. Diversion varies by state but suffice it to say that it acts as a guilty plea far as fines probation etc but once terms of diversion are completed no conviction appears on your record

I hate myself... :(

Please don't :D

I really, really do! I'm so disgusted that I actually did this and let my stupid "friend" convince me that everything would be fine, even though I knew it wasn't fine at ALL. I still haven't told my parents and it's driving me crazy.

Honestly is the best policy

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Quoting beautifullybroken22

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I hate myself... :(

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I already told you not to do that.. it is not going to help or solve anything. Just learn from this and become a stronger better person and all is forgiven in time. I am sure you are a good person who made a stupid mistake. Fix it and move on to great things.

So I told my parents about everything that happened. Actually, they found out on their own since I got a $350 fine from Macys in the mail and my mom opened it. I got screamed at for a while...of course. But eventually they calmed down and got me an attorney. I went to my arraignment last Thursday and my attorney had them postpone my arraignment since the judge that was there that week is a really harsh sentencer, so he postponed it a couple weeks so I could have a nice judge who is a lenient sentencer. Unfortunately in my county there are no diversion programs so I am just going to try to get my charges lessened...which is what most of the people I know who have gotten in trouble with the law have done. My friend, however, plead NOT GUILTY even though she clearly is. So she has to go to trial on the 26th of june. What do you think will happen to her? I'm going to be so upset if she gets away with this...

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Quoting beautifullybroken22

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So I told my parents about everything that happened. Actually, they found out on their own since I got a $350 fine from Macys in the mail and my mom opened it. I got screamed at for a while...of course. But eventually they calmed down and got me an attorney. I went to my arraignment last Thursday and my attorney had them postpone my arraignment since the judge that was there that week is a really harsh sentencer, so he postponed it a couple weeks so I could have a nice judge who is a lenient sentencer. Unfortunately in my county there are no diversion programs so I am just going to try to get my charges lessened...which is what most of the people I know who have gotten in trouble with the law have done. My friend, however, plead NOT GUILTY even though she clearly is. So she has to go to trial on the 26th of june. What do you think will happen to her? I'm going to be so upset if she gets away with this...

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Give us a clue what you are talking about.

Reading your post is like picking up a novel and starting in the middle.

I know there's more to this story....

Your concern should be aobut your own case not your friends!

just worry about you but your friend will have a bench trail where she will get to say her side of the story and the LP and the police who arrived on sceen will be there to say what they saw etc. SO then the judge gets to decide if she is guility or not.. and she will be found guilty and get the max punishment for trying to plead not guilty.

Sorry for the confusion, SeniorJudge. And I know it seems like I am more concerned about my friend but I really am scared for myself even more. I am hoping that the judge will see that I am a good person and just give me probation and/or community service and a fine. My lawyer says that he has worked with a lot of people with the same charges I am facing and says that he got them reduced to a 4th degree misdemeanor --Unauthorized use of property. Which is still not good, but it looks a lil better than THEFT lol. I have court in 6 days and I'm so nervous. Luckilly the judge is supposed to be a really nice lady, though. Anyone have an advice for me? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

You state you have an Attorney your advice should come from him/her

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Quoting panther10758

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You state you have an Attorney your advice should come from him/her

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I know. But I am very interested to hear from people who have been in my situation before and what happened to them. I'm scared....sometimes I just need a lil reassurance so I don't drive myself crazy. I just want this to be over. I'm afraid my friend is going to try to pin all of this crap on ME since she plead not guilty.

Cases vary and so do judges you cannot gauge your circumstance by others

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Quoting panther10758

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Cases vary and so do judges you cannot gauge your circumstance by others

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i know, i know. i'm just really scared.

The time to be "scared" was before you committed theft not after! That being said a 1st offense can carry

.Probabtion (summary)
.Fines < than $1000.00
.Community Service
.Ban from retailer

Not to mentiuon Civil Demand (outside of court issue)

jail is an option but not likely on 1st offense

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Quoting panther10758

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The time to be "scared" was before you committed theft not after! That being said a 1st offense can carry

.Probabtion (summary)
.Fines < than $1000.00
.Community Service
.Ban from retailer

Not to mentiuon Civil Demand (outside of court issue)

jail is an option but not likely on 1st offense

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I don't know WHAT was going through my head when I was stealing with my friend. In that moment I was completely GONE. I wasn't drugged or intoxicated in any way, but I just pretty much lost my mind. This is so against my morals. I am disgusted by my behavior. And not just because I got caught. But because I wasn't raised this way. I know what its like to have things taken from me so I don't know why in the hell I would steal from someone else! It seriously baffles me.

Hence the term, "Brain Fart".