What should I do if I am being accused of being an accomplice in a shoplifting case? 9 Answers as of January 09, 2012

Are you being fined by the "store" or have you been arrested and charged by the police. If only the store- the consensus among attorneys is to ignore these demands. If you are charged by the police and have a court date you need an attorney.

Sure you can. Get a lawyer. Demand a trial. Get the real shoplifter to testify that you had no idea she was going to steal as it was a spur of the moment thing and she did it when you were not visible to her. She can also testify how you asked them to search your purse three times and they ignored you.

Of course you can fight it. But as always when you are accused of a crime you are not guilty of you need a good lawyer.

Of course, and you should fight it. You're not guilty of doing anything, and you need some good advice. Get an experienced criminal defense Attorney to analyze the case and facts, and to plan your defense. Then show the DA and the Judge that they have NO evidence, and NO case.

Absolutely. And you should fight this! Being convicted of a theft offense can ruin your reputation and even prevent you from getting hired for certain employment.

You cannot be being fined and fight a case. To be fined, you have to have entered a no contest or guilty plea. If you did not do either of those. There is no fine as in a fee to be paid to the criminal justice system. I suspect that the "fine" is a demand letter from the store's attorney. If so, I regularly tell people to ignore it as the store cannot prove its case.

Of course you can. Hopefully you weren't foolish and signed any documents you shouldn't have signed. You should hire a lawyer to fight for you, because you will not be able to talk your way out of this without one.

The "fine" you're talking about likely a civil demand letter. California law allows a merchant to make a demand of up to $500 following a shoplifting incident. If you pay, it means they won't sue you in small claims. If you don't pay, they have to make a choice - either let it go or follow through and actually file a small claims case against you. I have never heard of anyone actually being sued because they ignored the civil demand letters. My advice to my clients is to ignore the letters completely and they'll stop sending them. Don't negotiate or argue. Just ignore them. Should you be the one in a million exception and they sue you, they still have to prove what, if anything, you did. That's your time to fight. If you have been charged with a criminal offense, you will need representation by a criminal defense attorney in court. That is much different than a civil demand letter. Make sure if you're looking at a letter that you know who it's from and what it means. Don't ignore a letter indicating that criminal charges have been filed or it can lead to an arrest warrant being issued.

You can always fight a case. However, what you need to know is can you get an acquittal or not guilty. All criminal cases are dependent on the facts. The only facts that a jury knows (if you take the case that far) is the evidence submitted at trial. Based on your information you have a good chance to get the case dismisses before trial. If convicted of this crime you will have a misdemeanor on your record. You need an attorney working for you to make sure your rights are protected.