If you get caught stealing, you can hire an attorney to represent you in court and get your shoplifting ticket dismissed or reduced to a less serious offense, such as “Littering,” which won’t show up on a standard criminal background check. Why You Should Not Plead Guilty To Stealing
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If you get caught stealing, you can hire an attorney to represent you in court and get your shoplifting ticket dismissed or reduced to a less serious offense, such as “Littering,” which won’t show up on a standard criminal background check.
In addition to the cost of hiring an attorney for your Shoplifting charge, you may have to pay a fine and court costs, do community service, complete the “Theft Offender” class, and/or pay a supervision fee if you have to serve time on probation.
You can go to court and represent yourself (not recommended) or you can hire an attorney to represent you. In many cases, your attorney can get your Shoplifting ticket dismissed or reduced to a less serious offense with no jail time or court appearance required. The outcome of your case depends on many factors, such as:
An experienced criminal defense attorney can get your Shoplifting charge dismissed completely or reduced to a less serious offense, such as “Littering.” The outcome of your case depends on many things, such as:
Under Illinois law, court supervision is not considered a conviction. It is Illinois' minimum sentence, allowing the charge(s) to be removed after some time in compliance with certain requirements. The court normally orders the person to pay a fine as well as court costs.
Shoplifting retail items valued at $300 or less with a prior conviction or using an emergency exit to commit retail theft is a Class 4 felony, which is punishable by fines up to $25,000 and/or 1-3 years of imprisonment.
The misdemeanor offense of retail theft is a Class A misdemeanor, with a potential penalty of up to 364 days in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500. The defendant would be eligible for supervision, which is not a conviction and can be expunged.
Can you Expunge or Seal a Retail Theft Case? Misdemeanor Retail theft cases can be expunged or sealed. Even felony retail theft cases can be expunged if you receive the right type of probation or disposition of your case.
The following is a breakdown of the theft crime penalties in Illinois: Class A misdemeanor theft – The theft of property worth a maximum of $500 and not stolen from a person is a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a jail sentence of up to less than one year and a maximum fine of $2,500.
The penalties for retail theft in Illinois were adjusted as of January 1, 2011. When the merchandise has a total value under $300.00, the charge is filed as a Class A Misdemeanor. Class A Misdemeanors are punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
If police officers catch you shoplifting or believe that you are shoplifting, you could face significant penalties. Depending on the circumstances of the theft, the officers may charge you for petty theft, which is a lesser charge, or a felony, which is very serious and often results in jail time.
When the value of the property is more than $300, shoplifting is a Class 3 felony, carrying penalties of 2 to 5 years in prison and fines up to $25,000. If the crime is executed through the use of an emergency exit, it is charged as a Class 2 felony, with fines up to $25,000 and 3 to 7 years in prison.
If you recently pleaded guilty to shoplifting or stealing, you can change your mind and withdraw your guilty plea.
An experienced shoplifting attorney can give you a flat-fee price quote for how much they will charge to represent you. They will also give you an estimate of the outcome of your case.
You will have a conviction for misdemeanor Stealing on your permanent criminal record if you got caught stealing and pleaded guilty to any of the following:
If you get caught Stealing, the police officer may arrest you and take you to jail, or they may just give you a ticket for Shoplifting and let you go.
It is legal in Missouri for a store employee to detain a suspected shoplifter for a reasonable amount of time while they call the police and try to determine if you stole from them. However, the store risks being charged with false imprisonment if the detention period lasts too long.
Maximum penalties for class A misdemeanor Stealing (Under $500) is: 1 1 year in jail 2 $1,000 fine 3 Conviction for Stealing on your permanent criminal record
To expunge a conviction for stealing, a hearing before a judge is required. The victim, the prosecu tor, and the police officer who issued the ticket will all be notified of the hearing and can testify at the hearing if they object to your petition to expunge your stealing conviction. In my opinion, your best choice is to hire an attorney up front ...
Unfortunately, it is not a guarantee. Court supervision may generally only be granted twice in a twelve month period with some offenses like insurance violations being more limited. For more details, you can read our article on the subject.
Court supervision, to most people, is a way to keep one’s record clean of an offense. It’s often called many names: deferred prosecution, traffic school, dismissal, etc. While this sounds good on paper, it’s important to know what exactly court supervision is so you can protect your license.
When one is found guilty of a traffic violation, they can be convicted or given supervision. A conviction is a public reporting of guilt that is available to insurance companies and employer driving record checks. A conviction can harm your insurance rates. A conviction also may impact your driving privileges resulting in suspension or revocation .
In almost all circumstances, court supervision will not affect your driving privileges (some exceptions exist such as underage alcohol related tickets and insurance violations where this is not the case). Having a traffic attorney review your case can verify your risk of driving record harm.
Only police, prosecutors, courts, the Secretary of State, attorneys like myself, and the driver themselves can see supervisions. This prevents insurance rate increases and employer record checks from seeing these offenses.
Other offenses like school zone speeding and bus passing tickets are ineligible for supervision. With so many violations and restrictions, it is important to speak to a traffic attorney in a free consultation before proceeding to verify supervision is even possible.
Even if your charges end up getting dismissed, whether they show up on a background check will depend on the type of background check the employer runs. Some pick up mere charges, some do not. More
I disagree with my colleague. A "first offender's program" will likely be available to you at any point. Oftentimes the State is not able to prove these charges because the Officer likely did not witness it. If the officer didn't witness it, they will probably need a witness from the store.
As a first time offender, if the State offers you the opportunity to do some community service, pay court costs and stay out of trouble, in order to get a dismissal, then you need to make that happen. You need to be concerned about your criminal record and do everything you can to keep it clean.
Look at it from 2 views. If you are lucky enough that the background check does not pick it up, and you fail to answer honestly on your application or interview, you are sure to be outed when you go to court and likely terminated.