Felony shoplifting charges for $5,000 of merchandise dismissed
2017
Lance’s client was arrested for attempting to walk out of a retail store without paying for $5,000 in clothing in client’s possession. Client, facing up to 7 years in prison and immigration consequences, contacted us for help. We reviewed client’s court paperwork and sent the prosecutor documents to mitigate our client’s alleged criminal act. Working out a settlement that avoided some of the main dangers the case presented was difficult due to the high value of the merchandise allegedly stolen, the strong case against our client, and the fact that immigration consequences could result even if our client was only convicted of a misdemeanor. We scheduled a meeting with the prosecuting attorney and after extensively going back and forth over the evidence and mitigating information, we worked out a deal where our client would agree to initially plead guilty to a misdemeanor but that this misdemeanor would be reversed later and replaced with only a non-criminal violation called disorderly conduct as long as community service was performed.