Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

Your present probation probably requires that you obey all laws. A conviction on the shoplifting charge may be viewed as aviolation of your probation. A violation of yrou probation could cause you to have to do the jail sentence that was backing up your probation. Therefore, it is adviseable that you defend yourself on the shoplifting charge. An attorney may be able to get the charges dismissed or otherwise altered to prevent you from having a probation violation.

Good luck

You will probably receive a Notice form the court tha placed you on probation giving you a court date to appear in that court to determine whether your existing probation will be revoked based upon your most current charge. Obviously, you need to hire an attorney to defend you on the current charge, but you will also need to hire an attorney (it can be the same one) to help you with the probation revocaion. All is not hopeless, but you really should wake up and avoid doing things that will cause further law enforcement contacts before it is too late.