My question involves criminal law for the state of: Ohio
A few days ago I was in Kroger's here in Ohio to get a prescription filled, I passed a product that I wanted to try but I was afraid that it would give me a reaction, so I took it to the bathroom to test it out first then I made the dumb decision to steal it only because I was embarassed of the product, I know that's no excuse, but that's what was going on in my mind at the time. I got caught, taken upstairs, cops called, I was taken out in cuffs. It was an $8 product which makes it worse. The cop took me to the courthouse, he didn't fingerprint me, or take my picture though. Luckily we got along good. He kinda sympathized with me. I asked him what I should plea, and he said "well, I can't tell u that" and as he was telling me this, he wrote on a piece of paper "NO CONTEST" and circled it about 5 times, then said to me "read between the lines" I was shocked he did that.
This is just a nightmare. I'm set to graduate college in May. I have a 3.5 GPA. The lawyer told me that stuff is very important, and would work good for me. The cop also said that he'd write a statement for me I guess endorsing me which he said would work for me in the end. He also said he can guarantee I won't do any time, but he said it's up to the judge if it goes on my record or not. What makes it worse is, about an hour before this happened, I was in the same store, and I bought and paid for 2 products. I still have the receipt, so I'm going to take that to court, hopefully that'll help in some way.
I've never done this before. I've never been in any kinda trouble, no record. I'm 28 yrs old, yes I should know better, and yes this was the dumbest mistake of my life. I've never had a drink, or been drunk, or smoke, no kids, the one time I slip up, this happens to me. I've never been so depressed and so scared in my life. I just made a very stupid mistake because my emotions got the best of me.
I talked to a lawyer that night and he was super confident he could get the whole thing thrown out of court totally, and get me totally clear from this, but it'd cost $3500. He liked me a lot, and said he'd make an exception in this case and do it for $1,800 upfront and bill me the rest later because he really thinks I can win this easily, and he wants to help me. He and the cop both said after talking to me for just 5 min each, that they both said they can tell what a good guy I am, and how I just made a silly mistake. My dad has been a retail store manager for years, he told me that I dont even need a lawyer for this..the lawyer was telling me how minor this is and this is going to be very simple to get this taken care of, that I wouldn't even have to go to court. I thought about calling the store and seeing if they'd settle with me outside of court, which I tried to do today, I couldn't get ahold of the security guy but I talked to the store manager, and I apologized to him and explained what caused me to do what I did, which I explained earlier in this post. That might've been a mistake, but my emotions have been so high over this the last few days that I'm not thinking clearly.
I basically decided to just be honest with the judge, say all I said here about I was embarassed of the product, I made a dumb mistake, im always in there buying stuff, I just did an hour before this happened, im a college student with good grades, no record, i never do anything bad and beg for this not to be on my record. My grandfather was a cop in this town for many many years, I just feel like I've ruined my life. Everyone is telling me its no big deal and it will be ok, but I just am so ashamed and so embarassed with myself.
What can I expect?

