Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

First of all, don't post ANY more details about your case on the Internet! There's already enough here to identify you, inluding the day & time of arrest, the location, and the amount stolen.

You could be charged with a couple of different crimes. Burglary is entering a building with the intent to commit a theft. It is a "wobbler," meaning it could be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor. The maximum punishment for felony, non-residential burglary is three years in state prison; for a misdemeanor, it's a year in county jail.

You could also be charged with petty theft. Any theft under $950 is petty theft.

(You're lucky; it just went up from $400 on January 1. Theft of some items -- certain livestock & crops, guns, vehicles -- can be grand theft at any amount.)

So here's the difference between theft and burglary: If you walk into the store with the intent to shoplift, it's burglary, but if you decide to steal AFTER you get inside, it's petty theft.

Hopefully, you didn't admit to the cops that you went there to steal stuff... which is a confession to burglary. Otherwise, the DA may try to prove burglary because you stole so many items, or with other circumstantial evidence.

You need personal help from a lawyer, not advice from a stranger on the Internet. I'm assuming you were given a court date when you were released. If you can't afford to hire your own attorney, the judge will appoint the Public Defender when you go to court.

Either way, don't talk to ANYONE about this case except your lawyer.

Advice from "strangers on the Internet" is fine as long as the person is a licensed California attorney. I am sure that what Mr. Marshall intends is that you should never get legal advice from friends, relatives, or from the police. Sometimes strangers become clients, and clients even become friends. In your case, each of you is going to need a separate lawyer, and in addition to the mostly good advice from attorney Marshall, you should not talk about the case with one another. Maybe the cops will persuade one of you to turn state's evidence and all of a sudden your "friend" is wearing a wire and testifying against you in court.

As Mr. Marshall said, the main event in this case is whether either or both of you get convicted of burglary, a felony. The chance that you will be charged with burglary is 100%. Now is the time for each of you to start calling Mom and Dad or doing whatever you have to do to raise the money to hire a private attorney, since the public defender probably is not going to be as aggressive in defending the charge. If you don't already have a felony record, you need to keep it that way if you want to be hired for a job ever again in your life. My experience is that public defenders often downplay the adverse consequences of a criminal record and will give you a hard sell to take a guilty plea.

If you do hire a private attorney, you need to do so right away so that the attorney can be standing next to you on your first court date. I defend persons accused of criminal offenses in Orange County, I have references, and I would be pleased to hear from you if you are interested.

No amount of free 'tips and hints' from here or anywhere else are going to help you in your defense, other than the advice to exercise the 5th Amendment right to SHUT UP and do NOT talk to anyone except your attorney about your case. When arrested and charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can you be convicted, and what can you do? Defend the charges. Go to court, enter a not guilty plea, arrange bail reduction or O.R., set up and attend the court hearing[s] and trial date[s]. File evidence suppression or other motions as applicable. Raise all the available defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence and facts are available for legal arguments for motions, plea-bargaining, or at trial. Go to trial if it can't be resolved with motions or a plea bargain. There is no magic wand to wave and make it all disappear. If you don't know how to do these things, then hire an attorney that does, who will try to get a dismissal, diversion, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain for you, or take it to trial. If serious about doing so, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help you use whatever defenses you may have. If you can't afford private counsel, you can apply for the Public Defender.

Everything that has already been said is basically correct. It is extremely important to STOP talking about this and anything else related to it. The only exception is when it comes to your attorney. It is vital that you talk to your attorney. This is a public forum and everything that is written on it is fair game and can be used against you. Mr. Marshall explained the situation very well. You need to hire an attorney. That is the best advise anyone can give you at this time. Stop wasting time looking for tidbits of information online and start shopping for a criminal defense attorney. If you can't afford one then find out what resources you have in the way of family and/or friends that might be able to give you financial help with hiring an attorney. If you can not find an attorney, the court will appoint you a public defender. I have found most public defenders to be good attorneys. The downside is they have so many cases and they don't have the time to spend on each individual case. So basically everyone is just another number to them. Private attorneys generally spend more time with their clients. Hopefully they will also explain things to their clients so they understand the process and what is happening as the case proceeds. Private attorneys generally don't settle matters as quickly as public defenders. Stop talking and start shopping for attorneys. You need to find out what your options are and get pro-active with defending your case. You also need to have someone start explaining what your looking at. Good luck