First Offense Shoplifting under $100 at Target in Michigan

All the info is pretty much in the subject line, I'm just wondering what I should expect. I cooperated with the Target authorities & with the police officers that came. I was charged with a misdemeanor.

From what I gather, this is a 3rd degree misdemeanor, which seems to be the least serious that I can be charged with. I plan on getting a lawyer for my court date.

I am a college student and have a steady part time job.


I should add that I need advice regarding this, and what I should expect out of sentencing and my record.

You may wish to consult a lawyer about the possibility of a deferred sentence or diversion program. If you plead guilty you will probably be sentenced to fines, probation and possibly community service - and you will have a criminal conviction on your record.

An update, for anyone reading this in my position or in a similiar one.

I had a meeting with a lawyer today. We went over the facts of what had happened, and he told me that I had a good chance of not having a criminal record when all is said and done. He is taking care of the arraignment, and is even getting the letters from the court sent to his office rather than my house so that my parents (whom I live with) will have a much smaller chance of finding out.

He suggested that in the time between now and the pre-trial, I do some volunteer work in the city where the theft occurred. This is apparantly looked favorably upon by prosecuters.

I liked what I heard from him and the apparent wealth of knowledge he possessed (over 30 years of defense experience in criminal cases), so I hired him. He seemed much better than other lawyers I had talked to.

Now, even if he was being overly positive, speaking with someone who knows the laws regarding retail fraud inside and out was very reassuring, as even with all the reading I did, I know very little comparativly. I now have more confidence and feel alot better about my situation.

So, if you are in my position, and have not talked to a lawyer yet, DO SO! A public defender may see many cases in one day, and will not give your case the attention it may need.

I was in Target as well and the item was under $50, I too was not arrested and I did not get a citation from the police officer before he left. I have been waiting for three weeks and have called the distrcit court clerk and to date no charges have been filed. Why would they wait three weeks to file charges, I am on pins and needles looking out the window to see if I am getting served with a summons.

Hi, I was in the same situation. Shoplifting $114.83 worth of stuff at Target.Didnt go to jail, the officer gave me a summon to court..First offense ever (clean record) charged with misdemoner larceny. .I hired a lawyer telling him I wanted to join the First Offenders Program. He charged $300.. and now iam serving 75 hrs of community service.. if I do not complete the 75 hrs of community service in 6 months.. I will have a criminal record.... All in all I paid a total of $610 for this whole situation.. $110 court cost, $200 community service, and $300 for a lawyer.... All this on the midst of my 18 birthday.. TO MENTION WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF MY PARENTS!!..whew it was hard trying to keep it away from them because I recieved letters from lawyers offering to advise me.

Follow up post:

Well, I got everything over with, finally, and I'm still alive and well.

I hired a lawyer who had a retainer fee of $1000. It was alot of money, but he definately knew his stuff and I felt comfortable with him.

At the pre-trial, the assistant prosecuter offered to not give jail time and that was it. I heard this from the hall way, then heard my lawyer say "well, that's not acceptable, but thanks anyways," and walk out. He then informed me that in the particular district where I committed the offense, there are actually two pre-trials. We scheduled another one, which was about a month later.

A month later (today), we showed up again, and unfortunately got the same story from the prosecuter (offered to knock off the jail time but not reduce the sentence). He said that I wouldn't get any better luck at a trial due to the fact that I had used a pocket knife to open the package. At that point he stood up abruptly and walked back into the prosecutor's office, returning only a few minutes later. He then told me that we were going to plea for trespassing, which carries much less of a penalty than retail fraud. I have no idea what he did, and don't know enough about the legal system to speculate.

Going before the judge, the trespassing plea was accepted and I got out with no community service (because I had already done some pre-emptively), no probation, and a $200 fine. That's it. I am amazed, and happy.

Unfortunately I am still no legal system expert and thus cannot offer any advice to anyone other than HIRE A LAWYER! When at court today, I saw the way the public defender shot through people who hadn't hired their own, and I would NOT have wanted to have him in charge of my fate. My lawer did extremely well, and I feel that my $1000 was well spent. Just get the best lawyer you can afford!

If anyone has any questions, you can email me at dephconn @ yahoo.com

Sounds like you still have a conviction on your record though which sucks. Sounds like it could have been way worse though. Tresspassing looks alot better than theft when it comes to applying for jobs and they pull your criminal backround.

The trespassing record can be expunged/erased in 5 years if no more criminal records come up.

Yea, the criminal conviction is too bad, but I'm not worried about it too much because trespassing is leagues better in a potential employer's eyes than retail fraud.

Hi- So you did community service on your own, and therefore weren't sentenced to do any more? How many hours did you do? I recently was caught shoplifting from Target, total of $178. I am 18 but did shoplift once before, which was my first offense, about 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the first one was a larger amount and I was convicted of a felony. The amount was just at the borderline of misdemeanor and felony, and my public defender had told me I would most likely be able to get it reduced to a misdemeanor and plead guilty... she was wrong. She said she was shocked. I sort of wish I had hired a lawyer, I wonder if it would have made a difference... Anyway, this time I was brought downtown and charged with a misdemeanor. I have a court date on August 10th. I will be on vacation from July 29-August 6, which makes this difficult- besides the fact that no one knows... not my family or friends. I am not sure if I should try to do this on my own- hire a lawyer or public defender, court costs, etc, or just tell my parents. I know my mom will be so disappointed because after the first time I swore it would never happen again. I have just been having a rough time lately... parents divorce, dad getting a sex change operation, bad break up... you know, the usual... well, not really. But I dont know how strongly the court will take into account my personal problems. I dont want this to look like patterned behavior, that could be bad. I definitely do not want to serve jail time... and I am not sure I want my parents to find out about this. Its getting close and I have a public defender appointment set up for tomorrow. What should I do???