Charged With Shoplifting After Forgetting to Purchase Merchandise

[CourtClerk]

I can't see how anyone would buy your story. Laundry detergent is heavy. Fabric softener is heavy. You're trying to tell me you didn't feel that heavy bag when you're trying to check out? Are you male or female? If you're female, you had a shopping bag in one hand (or on your shoulder), a Gatorade in your hand, a cell phone in your hand... what did you reach with to get your purse????

Even if you're male, you HAD to have felt that heavy bag reaching for a wallet, even if it were in your pocket.

[DeputyDog]

Nothing about that changes that the prosecution bears the burden of proof. All you are saying here, which is true, is that if the prosecution’s case would be enough to convict the defendant then the defendant needs to offer evidence of his own to at least raise enough doubt that the state has proven its case if the defendant hopes to avoid conviction. When it comes to a defendant taking a stand and simply stating “I didn’t do it, it was an accident” that generally alone isn’t going to be enough because the jury isn’t likely to believe it. It doesn’t do much to cast doubt on the state’s case.

Yes, and you phrased it and explained it better than I did.

A while back there was this persistent claim on this forum that if someone just said "It was an accident," without any additional evidence and only the mere claim, the prosecutor now had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it WASN'T an accident. People were acting like those four magic words could and would spell doom to any prosecutor's shoplifting case. Obviously that's just not how it works. As you correctly note, if they can win the case, and then the subject says "but I didn't mean to," then the subject had better have something to back that up.

[Guilietta]

Can you humor me, pretend that you believe my story and offer some advice on what type of evidence I would even have a chance at producing? Do my mannerisms on camera have a bearing or would that just end up being someone's interpretation of how I was behaving? ie; not hard evidence. I appreciate all of this input more than you could ever imagine.

And yes, though it is hard to believe, I had heavy items in both my purse and my bag. My purse had my laptop, a kindle, my phone among other things. Everything I carry is heavy as I am consistently carrying around pieces of equipment for work. So yes, laundry detergent and softener would be something that someone would notice... normally. You guys have absolutely no reason to believe me, I know that. I am still very grateful for the advice. I guess it's worth noting that the laundry detergent wasn't liquid, it was a small bag of those flings. And the softener was a small bottle. The dog toy weighed pretty much nothing at all. Question: does anyone ever post the results of their case on here? I see a ton of questions and back and forth about the "what if's" but I don't see any outcomes.

[DeputyDog]

I know what kind of evidence would likely show that it might have been a mistake, but I have no interest in helping people learn to develop a better technique of shoplifting, so I'm not going to discuss that on an open forum.

Let your lawyer do the work. If it was a mistake, that will likely come out. If it wasn't, you're not going to be able to convincingly argue that it was.

[harrylime]

Can you humor me, pretend that you believe my story and offer some advice on what type of evidence I would even have a chance at producing?

If you don't intend to allow your attorney to do his job, why not just fire him?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Question: does anyone ever post the results of their case on here? I see a ton of questions and back and forth about the "what if's" but I don't see any outcomes.

We rarely get follow-ups. Sometimes we do, but not often.

[Guilietta]

I do intend to let him do his job. And thank you all for your responses.