My Rights As a Criminal

I was wondering what my rights were as far as my case goes.

Me and my sister went into a store. About a week later a detective shows up at our house talking about they have footage of us taking things. My sister and I cooperated fully with the detectives and admitted fault. I did this because the detective told me if I didn't work with him he would tow my car and make this harder on me. So I cooperated and wrote down something on the paper.

The detective wasn't able to work anything out with the store, they want us prosecuted. Well we admitted to maybe $50 worth of things. Here's the thing. The store is claiming we took $525 woth of things. TOTAL lie and I know they don't have a tape proving this because we didn't take anywhere near this amount and alot of things that were listed on the list of"stolen" things is false.

I have a public defender and I don't really feel like he is on my side. He wasn't able to get me a restitution dismissal. He told me in order to keep my record clean I would have to do some community service, take a class, pay the 525 and the another 620 which can be reduced to 120 if i qualify.

Is this right? He told me that I could give them the stuff back or that is my option along with jail, probation, deferred probation. Those are all my options. I told him that I would like to give them their things back but the things I took not the lies they put on the paper. What can I do? Is there something that can be done better? Should I consider hiring an attorney. I am a single mom with two kids and now I am unemployed. I can't afford all these fines. I am very sorry for what I did and ashamed and I want to be punished if that's what they want but I want it to be fair.

I don't want to write a book cause then I won't get responses so I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need further info.

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Quoting itsme

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I was wondering what my rights were as far as my case goes.

Me and my sister went into a store. About a week later a detective shows up at our house talking about they have footage of us taking things. My sister and I cooperated fully with the detectives and admitted fault. I did this because the detective told me if I didn't work with him he would tow my car and make this harder on me. So I cooperated and wrote down something on the paper.

The detective wasn't able to work anything out with the store, they want us prosecuted. Well we admitted to maybe $50 worth of things. Here's the thing. The store is claiming we took $525 woth of things. TOTAL lie and I know they don't have a tape proving this because we didn't take anywhere near this amount and alot of things that were listed on the list of"stolen" things is false.

I have a public defender and I don't really feel like he is on my side. He wasn't able to get me a restitution dismissal. He told me in order to keep my record clean I would have to do some community service, take a class, pay the 525 and the another 620 which can be reduced to 120 if i qualify.

Is this right? He told me that I could give them the stuff back or that is my option along with jail, probation, deferred probation. Those are all my options. I told him that I would like to give them their things back but the things I took not the lies they put on the paper. What can I do? Is there something that can be done better? Should I consider hiring an attorney. I am a single mom with two kids and now I am unemployed. I can't afford all these fines. I am very sorry for what I did and ashamed and I want to be punished if that's what they want but I want it to be fair.

I don't want to write a book cause then I won't get responses so I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you need further info.

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Did you plead guilty? Is the case over?

In so far as getting what is coming to you, the only fair thing to do is for you to do ALL that is required of you through the courts. Aside from that, "fair" went out the window when your fingers got sticky.

Nope haven't plead guilty. Been going back and forth to court for a few months now.

Well thanks for your opinion but I still think what they are doing is wrong. I feel like there has to be something i can do. They have a video tape so I mean clearly on the video you would see that what they are alleging we took was in fact not taken so just because I did wrong they can do wrong too? Guess the system really is ****ed up.

bumping for more responses please. Will a paid lawyer help me better than a Public defender. I am onmy thrid public defender. They keep passing me around WTF I hate TX. weird ass state.

Obviously a private criminal lawyer is much better. Then again the price tag is much different too ranging from $2000-$3000.

If your main problem is that you cant afford the fines, i suggest to seriously start saving up your pennies. It'll be much cheaper paying the $525 then trying to fight your way out of it because of court fees and lawyer fees. I don't know about Texas but I know in NY you have to pay a public defender fee even if you qualify to get one i believe.

Yea it's more than 525. It's 525 plus a possible 620 which can go as low as 120. and 100 for a class. so a little over a thousand. I am going to ask my PD if it is too late for me to get my own lawyer. I will do that. I have been getting lots of things in the mail. I was thinking about a free consulation and an esimate will tell me exactly what I need to do.

The deal the public defender negotiated for you sounds like a good one. Honestly, I can't believe you're complaining about having to pay restitution and perform community service, or attend a course, to keep your record clean. If I were the judge and sensed your attitude, I wouldn't offer you the chance.

Court costs are inevitable, and you're lucky that (if you behave yourself) you can get them reduced to such a minimal amount. As for restitution, sorry, but stealing is an honesty crime and makes it much less likely that your word will be accepted over that of your victim. (I could cynically add, if indeed the claim for restitution is too much this time, think of yourself as paying for some of the things you've stolen on other occasions.) If you're unhappy with the proposed deal, pay a private lawyer to get you, quite probably, the same deal.