My question involves criminal law for the state of: Oregon
I regularly shop at a chain of thrift stores and was arrested for shoplifting. The problem is I was not intending to steal. My routine is to shop the shelves and pick up small electronic items that I research on my dataphone for potential resale. Once I have researched I either purchase or put back the items. In this case I spotted another item that I purchased and the other two items fell down in between the dog blanket that my dog sits on in the cart. I was particlularly tired this day as I had spent all day shopping at their other stores.. The lP guy came out of the store and questioned me about what I had under the dog. I was surprised but realized that I just forgot about the two items. They consisted of a broken digital camera 9.99 and a power supply unit with a wireless network card rubber banded together 19.99. I did not want them but got distracted with the item that I did purchase and spaced them out. The lp seperated the two rubberbanded items and asked a store worker for the price of the item that had no tag on it. It came back with a 19.99 price. so it became three items. After sitting around for two hours the lp guy tried to get me to sign forms basicly admitting what they alleged I did and I refused on the basis that I disagreed with him saying it was willfull theft. The police showed up and arrested me. The officer asked me for my cash to inventory and any other personal items i had and I complied. I had a satalite remote control in my pocket that he ask if it was the stores and I told him it was purchased at the "chains outlet" store, where you purchase items by the pound in bulk, earlier that day. It had their sticker on it with a two day old date and the LP guy said their was no way that could have made it to the outlet store that quickly and took the remote from me. I argued his point of how fast some items make to their outlet store but he did not want to believe me. The officer questioned the whole thing and decided to take all the items an log them in as evidence. Then I went to jail to be booked. Never had any problems with the law other then a traffic ticket. My livleyhood is at risk being that spend lot money at these stores purchasing goods for resale. It seems its been a bit blown out of proportion. I just forgot to set the items back.
I went to community court and plead not guilty. A trail is now sceduled. Talked to a lawyer and he said its a tough case to prove innocence being that the charge was reduced to a violation which took away my right to jury, court appointed lawyer and verdict will be based on preponderance of evidence. He said it would cost about $3000.00 for help. He also said I could handle myself but it would be risky and maybe best to get it back to community court where you plead guilty, get community service and can get it removed from your record. He was very honest and only charged me $50.00 for the advice.
After seeing how complicated and expesive it is to fight this I tried to get my case back to the community court without any luck. basicly I have to go to trial and may be able to ask the judge if I can get it moved back to the community court but he could deny that in which case I will have to be ready to defend myself that day.
I have spent alot of time going over this and think I can present a reasonble defense but know that it is a tough thing to do for the layman and that the courts have little patience for us this.
My questions are if I defend myself, which I can't afford to do anything else, I could use any ideas for a defense stratagy. Any chance of getting it thrown out based on the fact they added that $2.99 remote to the total value that changed the charge from theft 1 to theft II. The LP guy did not see me "select the item" and did not even know it existed untill the police found it during the search later. Also the two items that were bundled together and then seperated and the one with no price sticker was then priced at $19.99 raises again the question about the value of the crime, which in turn affected the charge against me.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You
banned

