Re: Breaking probation

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You should request an appointment with a public defender as
soon as possible. Tell him/her that the items were taken in
several separate thefts. It may or may not help.

Definitely seek physiological help as soon as possible. I
don't know what your jurisdiction does for "intake services"
but that will likely be your first contact with someone who
can explain what help is available. Trying an "insanity
defense" is a weak possibility for shoplifting. Better off
just using a standard legal defense and pleading for mercy.
If you are found guilty, in the jurisdiction I live in you
would probably get a year or two plus probation.

You may not have the same judge for the new shoplifting case
but you probably will return to the same judge for the
probation revocation. I think it might be best to be open
and honest with your PO but you need to consult with your
lawyer or public defender before you say anything about this
new case to her. Anything you say to her can be used as
evidence in court.

If you can raise the money you need for the private lawyer
you should do so (without stealing). In most cases you are
better off with a private lawyer. The public defenders have
a huge number of cases and not much time to work on each case.

On 11/04/07, Amanda wrote:
> I am on probation for a class C felony: stealing more than
> $500 but less than $25000. My first time around with the
> judge he issued a more harsh punishment than what the DA
> wanted. Since that case started I have had a daughter. She
> was born right before the judge issued his sentencing. To
> be quite honest with you, the judge issued me to serve 20
> days of shock time to be served on 10 weekends. I have
> four young children at home so serving the weekends was
> more like a break for me than a punishment.
> Since my daughter was born I have been have dreams on a
> regular basis of horrible things that my stepfather used
> to do to me. When you add that on the the severe case of
> post-partum depression that I have been going thru I was
> emotionally torn up. So I did something stupid. Something
> that seemed like it was helping me get rid of some of the
> stress in my life. I shoplifted. I was only caught with
> $400 worth of merchandise on me but like a dumb*ss I told
> the officer that I had stolen more. I was detained in the
> store office while the officer searched my car and found a
> total of $2000 worth of stuff.
> So now, I have broken probation and I am afraid of what is
> going to happen. I have a serious psychological problem
> that I want to get taken care of before they send me to
> prison. I tried contacting my PO but she was out of town
> for a week when this all happened. The county where I got
> caught is charging me with shoplifting in the amount of
> $2000. I talked to a lawyer and said he wasn't sure that
> they could do that since I had taken stuff from several
> stores and they wouldn't be able to pinpoint which store
> anything was from. I would really like to hire him but I
> don't have the $4000 to do that. He gave me a lot of legal
> advise and even suggested that I get a public defender. He
> said that the public defender in my county was really good
> and could do just as good of a job as any lawyer.
> I am very suicidal right now just thinking that if I talk
> to my PO when she gets back she'll have me arrested on the
> spot and I won't be able to hug my kids goodbye. He said
> the only advantage a lawyer had over the PD was that you
> had to wait for a PD to be assigned to you and that I
> might end up waiting in the county jail for 2 or 3 months
> to get one. Whereas a lawyer would more than likely be
> able to get me out on an OR bond right away.
> I read somewhere of an insanity plea called
> an 'irresistable impulse' where you know you are doing
> something wrong, you know the difference between right and
> wrong, you just can't stop yourself. Which is I think
> where the best defense is for me. I didn't have a chance
> to talk to the lawyer about it though. I still need to
> come up with the $1500 for him to take just the probation
> violation case. He did tell me that there was a very slim
> chance that my PO would not report this but that was more
> or less wishful thinking. I was just wondering if I talked
> to my PO (who seems pretty decent) and told her everything
> that is going on with me: the suicide thoughts, the past
> molestation, the past rape, and the repeated dreams making
> my depression worse; if she would allow me to get help
> before reporting this to the judge. What are my chances of
> this happening? I'm not being unrealistic and hoping she
> won't report it. I'm preparing myself to go to prison. I
> just think that I need to get help first b/c just sending
> me away is not going to take care of the problem. Does any
> of this make sense? Please let me know what my best
> options are. Thanks!