Theft charges have been around since I've been practicing for the past twenty-five years and prosecutors and judges alike obviously don't like people stealing in society, especially when you're talking about stealing from big entities — stores like Nordstrom's, Target — or any of these other department stores that pay a lot of taxes and money to the government. So, the government is like big brother and they make sure that they protect these big entities.
Many years, they would put people on probation and give them a criminal conviction. That's one of the worst convictions, because when you try to get a job or some sort of benefits, if someone sees that you have a theft-related offense on your record, it's very difficult to hire somebody that has a theft background.
Diversion Options To Avoid Conviction
Now thought, there's been a bunch of propositions that have passed and law enforcement has eased up, quite frankly, in a lot of these theft cases. A lot of times, depending on the circumstances, I can get diversion and other resolutions where we're able to protect your criminal record — either get a charge that we can get wiped off within a certain amount of time or get a charge that's not a theft-related offense.
Now of course, this is goal even if they have the goods on you, so to speak. Then you should still be able to work something out where your record is protected. For those people who have multiple other theft offenses and they get a new theft offense, obviously, the prosecutors and judges are not going to be as kind to those individuals.
Still though, a lot of times where they were throwing those individuals in the county jail or prison and putting all sorts of restrictions on them, now they've eased up a bit and they're not quite as harsh.
Obviously, the more involved with theft-related offenses in your back you are, the more damage you cause, the more loss you caused, the more sophisticated your activities are, if you sit in a position of trust — these are all factors that the prosecutors are going to look at, and of course, they will let you have it under the right circumstance.
Seeking Best Possible Outcome on Your Case
That's why getting a great criminal defense attorney who has handled theft-related offenses is so important, especially in Los Angeles county where theft is rampant and they have a lot of cases, and unfortunately, not all theft cases are treated the same.
There are so many different factors that play into it and there's other mitigating things you can do. You can get a mitigation package together with character letters relating to your job, your family, your friends, to show you're a good person and whatever activities you were involved in are what they could characterize as an aberration — meaning you shouldn't get some horrible conviction, you shouldn't be sent to jail or prison — you should be given an opportunity to show that you will not become in these activities again and to protect your criminal record and put you in the best possible position.
Of course, this is what we're looking to do, so we have you come in for a confidential meeting and talk about everything and strategize. When you walk out of the meeting, you should walk out with an idea of what you're going to do, what the attorney is going to do and have a game plan moving forward so that you know what you're up against.
That's the worst thing in these theft-related offenses in Los Angeles — all of your rights are on the line. Your career is on the line and so many other things. So, you want to know what you're up against and what you can do to make things better and that's what we try to provide for you at The Hedding Law Firm — not only a defense but a defense strategy moving forward based on your particular situation.
