I'm sure you have been charged wtih misdemeanor retail theft, as you mentioned the dollar amount was less than $150. At court, the prosecutor will most likely give you an offer to plead guilty. This more than likely will be 6 months of court ordered supervision, a fine (probably $75 or $100), court costs ($25 or $50) and restitution if the merchandise is not resaleable (this is separate from civil demand). If you do not get in trouble within the supervision period it will not be on your record. You will have no conviction, nothing. You will not have to report it to an employer and it will now show up on a background check. Cook county does not have a diversion program for adult offenders as far as I know. The biggest thing will be to stay out of trouble during your supervision. If you violate the supervision it will show up as a conviction. This means don't get arrested again for anything. Do you know if you were charged with a local violation or is it a state charge? You can look at your paperwork and tell, if it says State of IL v (your name) it's state, City of Chicago v. (your name) it's local. If it is local, you probably don't need an attorney, your hearing will be like traffic court. If it's state you will need a lawyer. All of this applies if you have a clean record, if not it could be handled differently. Any more questions let me know.

