Hii everyone,
I'm 18, go to a respected university, & currently employed. I have no prior offenses to this.
Last week I was caught shoplifting at a retail store in California. The merchandise totaled about $83. LP at the store was very friendly and seemed to understand where I was coming from & all in all were very lighthearted about the whole thing. The local police were called to make sure that my records were clean and also to give me a citation. I was told by LP that I would need to pay restitution, which I'm completely fine with. I am also banned from the store.
My citation states that I have violated PC 488 - petty theft & to appear in court on/by June 21.
I've been doing my "research" on other cases similar to mine & have come up with somewhat of a plan that will hopefully work in my favor?
- Write a letter to the store stating my apologies, etc (however, I have read that this is equivalent of admitting guilt? would it be bad to do this then?)
- Make arrangements to pay the restitution
- NASP program (how would this help my case besides making me look more remorseful? could it possibly lead to dismissal of my case?)
- Get official transcripts from my school to showcase my good grades
- Make copies of recent paychecks from work to prove that I'm employed
- Ask my PD about possible other ways to go? or outcomes?
- Plead not guilty
Also, let's say my case is dismissed - does that mean that all charges are dropped & won't appear on my record? If my case isn't dismissed, are my chances of being able to expunge this from my records good?
This is seriously killing me
it was my first time shoplifting, and DEFINITELY MY LAST. I feel so horrible. I'm so worried that this is going to affect me so much for the rest of my life. I have so many goals in life & I fear that this will prevent me from achieving some of them & haunt me forever. I may be overreacting a little, but I seriously never thought something like this would happen to me.
Is there anything else I can do to make myself look better in front of the judge? How else can I prove that I truly regret what happened, that I had a poor lapse of judgment, and I will never do it again?
And... I'm not telling my parents about this. They work entirely too hard for me and my siblings, and it would seriously break their hearts if they found out about this. I know I can handle this on my own. In any case, how will the court determine whether I am eligible for a public defender? I definitely can't afford my own attorney & even if my parents knew, they wouldn't be able to afford one either. (Yes, they pay for my college tuition but majority of the money that pays for it comes from grants & scholarships)
Thank you in advance for your help!
I'm 18, go to a respected university, & currently employed. I have no prior offenses to this.
Last week I was caught shoplifting at a retail store in California. The merchandise totaled about $83. LP at the store was very friendly and seemed to understand where I was coming from & all in all were very lighthearted about the whole thing. The local police were called to make sure that my records were clean and also to give me a citation. I was told by LP that I would need to pay restitution, which I'm completely fine with. I am also banned from the store.
My citation states that I have violated PC 488 - petty theft & to appear in court on/by June 21.
I've been doing my "research" on other cases similar to mine & have come up with somewhat of a plan that will hopefully work in my favor?
- Write a letter to the store stating my apologies, etc (however, I have read that this is equivalent of admitting guilt? would it be bad to do this then?)
- Make arrangements to pay the restitution
- NASP program (how would this help my case besides making me look more remorseful? could it possibly lead to dismissal of my case?)
- Get official transcripts from my school to showcase my good grades
- Make copies of recent paychecks from work to prove that I'm employed
- Ask my PD about possible other ways to go? or outcomes?
- Plead not guilty
Also, let's say my case is dismissed - does that mean that all charges are dropped & won't appear on my record? If my case isn't dismissed, are my chances of being able to expunge this from my records good?
This is seriously killing me
it was my first time shoplifting, and DEFINITELY MY LAST. I feel so horrible. I'm so worried that this is going to affect me so much for the rest of my life. I have so many goals in life & I fear that this will prevent me from achieving some of them & haunt me forever. I may be overreacting a little, but I seriously never thought something like this would happen to me.Is there anything else I can do to make myself look better in front of the judge? How else can I prove that I truly regret what happened, that I had a poor lapse of judgment, and I will never do it again?
And... I'm not telling my parents about this. They work entirely too hard for me and my siblings, and it would seriously break their hearts if they found out about this. I know I can handle this on my own. In any case, how will the court determine whether I am eligible for a public defender? I definitely can't afford my own attorney & even if my parents knew, they wouldn't be able to afford one either. (Yes, they pay for my college tuition but majority of the money that pays for it comes from grants & scholarships)
Thank you in advance for your help!
