My question involves criminal law for the state of: My question involves criminal law for the state of: Minnesota
It still seems to surreal that this is even happening. Everything has been such a mess lately, I'm on my 3rd attorney through legal aid for trying to get child support from my son's father (it's been over a year and a half process), and we just had our pre-hearing last week to set the date for a hearing. I also recently just took over guardianship over my younger brother to keep him from going back into the foster care system due to my grandma having a stroke and being unable to care for him. He has FAS and some serious behavioral issues that I'm trying to get support with, and everything has just been making my anxiety out of control where my PRN for my panic attacks havent even been helping lately. I'm also a graduate student completing my MBA, which earlier today I was told I had to get a laundry list of past due stuff in so I didn't get an incomplete because lately i just have not been able to focus and have had so much going on that got me behind, so then I was spending a majority of my day trying to find someone to switch shifts with me so I could focus on school tonight (I work in the human services field) and it was one thing after another.
I've been super emotional since before this incident happened, it's that time of month for me to top it off, and everyone around me has been saying that i just look exhausted. So anyways, now that you have alittle taste of my situation of lately, earlier today I went to the grocery store here in town to grab some milk. I'm not even sure why I was in this mind frame, but like they say in all criminal law classes financial stress is one of the main motivators for fraud or other offenses, but anyways I was walking around the store, frankly I just got done getting in a fight with my brother and needed a break so sometimes I just wonder. Anyways, he kept bugging me about batteries for this light I put in their closet (he shares one with my son) because there isn't one there, so it requires batteries, and for a week I've been putting it off. Honestly I've had so much to do with so little time and I'm broke, I just had to get emergency assistance for my electricity last week, so I've been really stretching this last dollar until tomorrow as I get paid tomorrow, even though that will barely cover rent and maybe my car payment. Before I left I was also getting after him about being late to school the last 2 mornings (I work overnights so he's supposed to be on the bus by the time I leave) and he was blaming it on also needing batteries for his alarm clock because the outlet is apparently loose and keeps on coming unplugged and so he was upset that I could come wake him up or do anything, and so I don't know, I was walking around the store just to get out of the house, trying to think of all the crap I had to do for school and everything else.
It's the day before payday, so I only have a couple bucks in my pocket, as I was walking towards the checkout I came across the bakery, and there were there brownies with cream cheese frosting for $3.99, and at that time they sounded so good and all I could think about was going home and locking myself in my room for a bit and having a brownie (Again, that time of the month, plus I have lost 30 pounds over the course of the summer so I don't eat much junk food anymore) so I had them up in the top cart debating about them, initially was going to see if there was single ones up by the bakery counter or some reduced ones, but nothing so I turn around and go down the other aisle to go look again for smaller packs or to them away, and I walk past this tower of batteries, the big packs of like 16 or something, of AA and AAA. Of course they are stupidly expensive at a grocery store, and i can get them on sale somewhere easily, but I had started to feel bad before that if my brother was telling the truth and I frankly hate admitting I'm struggling to him. He worries enough about everyone and their dog and has a big mouth, plus he has so much he needs to be concentrating on he does not need to be worrying about finances. So, this is all going through my head as I'm looking at this tower, thinking about coming home and having the batteries and everything being in working order and good again, but I couldn't remember the size so I grabbed one of AA and AAA, and hey the brownies are still there, if I'm going to steal something I might as well make it worth it (was my mindset) so I had a flyer and my purse in the cart and I grabbed the stuff under the flyer and slid it into my bag and went up and paid for the milk. Just as I was walking out the door, Loss Prevention grabbed me by the arm and said to come with him, with the store manager there.
I thought to myself immediately oh crap, why did I do this, I get paid tomorrow, if I was going to steal I should have atleast stole something with actual value if I'm going to ruin my life over it. and he was pulling me inside and I started to think again, OH NO, the child support hearing is next month and the dead beat dad is trying to get joint custody even though hes not even hardly involved so he doesn't have to pay child support and I know he is going to use this against me and I work with vulnerable adults, I'm going to loose my job that I'm barely able to make ends meet with anyways. And whats the point of my MBA if I have a criminal history now, So I really just wanted to try to take off as quickly as possible as they didn't know my name and I figured with that small amount of stuff it's not like I'm going to be on americas most wanted, so I'm trying to walk away and get out of his grip and he starts to grab onto me and my purse and he was bigger than me so I wasn't going anywhere and well, there goes my future.
Such a stupid mistake, 2 packs of batteries and a package of brownies. They totaled it up to be $38 (the batteries were of course way more expensive than other places)
I don't even know what to do, I got a citation with a court date, it is my first offense, as I've been reading I'm sure I could ask the judge to please let me do something to get it off my record so i can keep my job and do something with this degree i've been working on, but from what I'm reading whenever I get the papers from the grocery store it's going to be expensive and it will cost quite a bit to get it sealed or whatever if they do approve it, which that was the whole thing behind my irrational behavior is not being able to afford a stupid pack of batteries. So I guess here's some questions, sorry about the novel.
* IF I call and reschedule the court date past the date of my child support custody date, it would not be on my record until after the court date, right? It's pretty close together and I don't want his attorney to twist it around making me out to be something I'm not. Plus, I'm so stressed with that hearing, id rather focus on that then deal with the petty theft after everything was said and done with the child support/custody decision.
* With it being a misdemeanor, would it have quite a bit of a affect of my job search related to my degree? I'm sure it varies by what job im applying for, but ive noticed many applications only ask about felonies.
* Working with Vulnerable adults, would it be sent to my employer automatically? they didn't ask my employer, but you do have to go through a background check and obviously they work with the county for this individuals.
*IS there a "Statute of limitations" with this type of thing? Like after so many years it doesn't show up in most background checks?
* Do you think if I wrote a letter to the states attorney or Judge it would maybe help my case? Perhaps try to negotate some sort of conditions of community service or if i go so many years of not getting in trouble it will be expunged? I know in many court cases I've seen many times the states attorney will attempt to make a plea bargain to save the court time and money, but I'm not sure how that works with this sort of thing.
For the record, I am not making excuses for my behavior, it was a very poor irrational decision I made, right now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to move forward and not let it define who I am or ruin all of what I've worked so hard for. It was out of character for me, heck I donate to the food pantry and various organizations our clothing and such all the time, I volunteer frequently, I've worked in the human services field for roughtly 5 years getting paid very little for a non-profit organization because i care about people. This was a stupid mistake that i made a very quick decision in that matter of a minute or 2.Unfortunately I cant go back and change what I';ve already done.
I'd talk to my current attorney, but because it is through legal aid and specifically for the child support enforcement/custody case and parenting time. so they have all so far been only wanting the fact and to get to the point. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
It still seems to surreal that this is even happening. Everything has been such a mess lately, I'm on my 3rd attorney through legal aid for trying to get child support from my son's father (it's been over a year and a half process), and we just had our pre-hearing last week to set the date for a hearing. I also recently just took over guardianship over my younger brother to keep him from going back into the foster care system due to my grandma having a stroke and being unable to care for him. He has FAS and some serious behavioral issues that I'm trying to get support with, and everything has just been making my anxiety out of control where my PRN for my panic attacks havent even been helping lately. I'm also a graduate student completing my MBA, which earlier today I was told I had to get a laundry list of past due stuff in so I didn't get an incomplete because lately i just have not been able to focus and have had so much going on that got me behind, so then I was spending a majority of my day trying to find someone to switch shifts with me so I could focus on school tonight (I work in the human services field) and it was one thing after another.
I've been super emotional since before this incident happened, it's that time of month for me to top it off, and everyone around me has been saying that i just look exhausted. So anyways, now that you have alittle taste of my situation of lately, earlier today I went to the grocery store here in town to grab some milk. I'm not even sure why I was in this mind frame, but like they say in all criminal law classes financial stress is one of the main motivators for fraud or other offenses, but anyways I was walking around the store, frankly I just got done getting in a fight with my brother and needed a break so sometimes I just wonder. Anyways, he kept bugging me about batteries for this light I put in their closet (he shares one with my son) because there isn't one there, so it requires batteries, and for a week I've been putting it off. Honestly I've had so much to do with so little time and I'm broke, I just had to get emergency assistance for my electricity last week, so I've been really stretching this last dollar until tomorrow as I get paid tomorrow, even though that will barely cover rent and maybe my car payment. Before I left I was also getting after him about being late to school the last 2 mornings (I work overnights so he's supposed to be on the bus by the time I leave) and he was blaming it on also needing batteries for his alarm clock because the outlet is apparently loose and keeps on coming unplugged and so he was upset that I could come wake him up or do anything, and so I don't know, I was walking around the store just to get out of the house, trying to think of all the crap I had to do for school and everything else.
It's the day before payday, so I only have a couple bucks in my pocket, as I was walking towards the checkout I came across the bakery, and there were there brownies with cream cheese frosting for $3.99, and at that time they sounded so good and all I could think about was going home and locking myself in my room for a bit and having a brownie (Again, that time of the month, plus I have lost 30 pounds over the course of the summer so I don't eat much junk food anymore) so I had them up in the top cart debating about them, initially was going to see if there was single ones up by the bakery counter or some reduced ones, but nothing so I turn around and go down the other aisle to go look again for smaller packs or to them away, and I walk past this tower of batteries, the big packs of like 16 or something, of AA and AAA. Of course they are stupidly expensive at a grocery store, and i can get them on sale somewhere easily, but I had started to feel bad before that if my brother was telling the truth and I frankly hate admitting I'm struggling to him. He worries enough about everyone and their dog and has a big mouth, plus he has so much he needs to be concentrating on he does not need to be worrying about finances. So, this is all going through my head as I'm looking at this tower, thinking about coming home and having the batteries and everything being in working order and good again, but I couldn't remember the size so I grabbed one of AA and AAA, and hey the brownies are still there, if I'm going to steal something I might as well make it worth it (was my mindset) so I had a flyer and my purse in the cart and I grabbed the stuff under the flyer and slid it into my bag and went up and paid for the milk. Just as I was walking out the door, Loss Prevention grabbed me by the arm and said to come with him, with the store manager there.
I thought to myself immediately oh crap, why did I do this, I get paid tomorrow, if I was going to steal I should have atleast stole something with actual value if I'm going to ruin my life over it. and he was pulling me inside and I started to think again, OH NO, the child support hearing is next month and the dead beat dad is trying to get joint custody even though hes not even hardly involved so he doesn't have to pay child support and I know he is going to use this against me and I work with vulnerable adults, I'm going to loose my job that I'm barely able to make ends meet with anyways. And whats the point of my MBA if I have a criminal history now, So I really just wanted to try to take off as quickly as possible as they didn't know my name and I figured with that small amount of stuff it's not like I'm going to be on americas most wanted, so I'm trying to walk away and get out of his grip and he starts to grab onto me and my purse and he was bigger than me so I wasn't going anywhere and well, there goes my future.
Such a stupid mistake, 2 packs of batteries and a package of brownies. They totaled it up to be $38 (the batteries were of course way more expensive than other places)
I don't even know what to do, I got a citation with a court date, it is my first offense, as I've been reading I'm sure I could ask the judge to please let me do something to get it off my record so i can keep my job and do something with this degree i've been working on, but from what I'm reading whenever I get the papers from the grocery store it's going to be expensive and it will cost quite a bit to get it sealed or whatever if they do approve it, which that was the whole thing behind my irrational behavior is not being able to afford a stupid pack of batteries. So I guess here's some questions, sorry about the novel.
* IF I call and reschedule the court date past the date of my child support custody date, it would not be on my record until after the court date, right? It's pretty close together and I don't want his attorney to twist it around making me out to be something I'm not. Plus, I'm so stressed with that hearing, id rather focus on that then deal with the petty theft after everything was said and done with the child support/custody decision.
* With it being a misdemeanor, would it have quite a bit of a affect of my job search related to my degree? I'm sure it varies by what job im applying for, but ive noticed many applications only ask about felonies.
* Working with Vulnerable adults, would it be sent to my employer automatically? they didn't ask my employer, but you do have to go through a background check and obviously they work with the county for this individuals.
*IS there a "Statute of limitations" with this type of thing? Like after so many years it doesn't show up in most background checks?
* Do you think if I wrote a letter to the states attorney or Judge it would maybe help my case? Perhaps try to negotate some sort of conditions of community service or if i go so many years of not getting in trouble it will be expunged? I know in many court cases I've seen many times the states attorney will attempt to make a plea bargain to save the court time and money, but I'm not sure how that works with this sort of thing.
For the record, I am not making excuses for my behavior, it was a very poor irrational decision I made, right now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to move forward and not let it define who I am or ruin all of what I've worked so hard for. It was out of character for me, heck I donate to the food pantry and various organizations our clothing and such all the time, I volunteer frequently, I've worked in the human services field for roughtly 5 years getting paid very little for a non-profit organization because i care about people. This was a stupid mistake that i made a very quick decision in that matter of a minute or 2.Unfortunately I cant go back and change what I';ve already done.
I'd talk to my current attorney, but because it is through legal aid and specifically for the child support enforcement/custody case and parenting time. so they have all so far been only wanting the fact and to get to the point. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Retail Fraud / Shoplifting: Caught Shoplifting from a Grocery Store, First Time Offense
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