Incident was in the state of: CALIFORNIA
I am 20. I stole $40 dollars worth of goods in a grocery store. I was with my friend who stole but did not get caught because LP "did not see her." I cooperated with LP gave them all of my information. I signed a paper that said I was banned from that store and it's other chains. They called the police & the cop cited me a ticket for 484 PC, with the misdemeanor box checked. I was told by the cop that I needed to get my fingerprinting done, so I did & I also got my picture taken!
It's been a month since the incident happened, and I am going crazy because the court date isn't for another month. My original plan was just to appear in court and say "no contest" plea. And be completely honest & apologetic with the judge, telling him that I go to a state college, I have never had anything on my record not even a traffic violation, I get good grades, it was wrong & I will never do it again, and that I do not want to jeopardize my future with this silly mistake. With that, I was hoping that he would sympathize with me & lower it down to an infraction or something. But that would be a one in a million chance!
I've read a lot of threads on this site about this. Went on different websites asking for other opinions. But just as other users did, I want to get answers for myself! So please bare with me.
- I am scared as f u c k
- I do not want my parents to find out because they expect more from me
- I really, really, really want to get this over with & get some peace of mind. Just before school starts in the fall.
Reading things on here somewhat made things clearer for me. I just wished some people actually posted their stories & outcome of their cases. But I digress.
So I have some questions for you people!
- If I plea "not guilty," will I automatically be qualified for a PD?
- How do I know if I qualify for a PD or not? (I am a full-time student, unemployed)
- If I do qualify for a PD, what should I tell him/her? Should I ask if I can lower it down to an infraction? Or ask for diversion? Continuance for dismissal? Or what?
- Are PDs free? Or are they based on hourly paid? Or is it fixed?
- How many trials will I have to go through to get this over with? A day?
- How long does a trial usually take?
- How much will I be looking at? I don't have much saved.
- What will happen if I don't qualify for a PD? Should I just go with my original plan and plea "no contest"?
Thank you for your time!![]()

