Walk It Through: The Jacket
Not over $2,500 is a Class A misdemeanor, an arrest on reasonable grounds, and expunction decided at sentencing.
A college student walks out of a department store wearing a jacket that was never paid for, and an officer standing by the exit sees it.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One jacket and one conviction. Felony theft, the felonies that cannot be expunged, and driving records are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Search warrantAn order signed by a judge directing an officer to search a designated person, object or place to seize designated property, issued if probable cause is shown under oath.
- Class A misdemeanorThe highest misdemeanor class: up to $10,000, up to 9 months, or both.
- Retail theftTaking, concealing, transferring or keeping a merchant's goods, or altering a price, without consent and meaning to deprive the merchant. Not over $500 is a Class A misdemeanor.
- StalkingIntentionally carrying out a course of conduct aimed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person serious emotional distress or fear, and does. A Class I felony.
- TheftIntentionally taking, using, concealing or keeping someone else's movable property without consent, intending to deprive the owner permanently. Not over $2,500 is a Class A misdemeanor.
- ExpungementClearing a record, ordered at the time of sentencing for a person under 25 at the time of an offense carrying a maximum of 6 years or less, taking effect once the sentence is successfully completed.