Legal Question in Criminal Law in Montana

hypothetical petty theft

I'm a writer, and I have a question for a fictional story I'm constructing. Here's the situation. A 16yr old kid steals from ten different homes/businesses, all petty items under $300.00 for each location. He finally gets caught, but on his behalf, someone goes to these people and asks if the boy can make a trade in labor in exhange for dropping the charges. Now I know that the individual victims don't decide if charges get dropped, the DA does, but if the DA had nobody interested in following these cases to court, could the boy actually be set free without a criminal record? Would it be worth the state's time to pursue these charges if the victims felt restitution could be made out of the legal system? My story takes place in a small sized town in Montana, if that makes any difference to the answer. I guess what I mainly want to know is, if I write my story so that this boy doesn't end with any charges against him once all is said and done, does this have any basis in reality? Thank you for your time.


Asked on 12/13/07, 9:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

Re: hypothetical petty theft

A serial thief such as you describe has a problem. The DA has the obligation to protect the community from him. Most DA's would probably insist upon one or more convictions, agree to probation, and restitution such as you describe. That way, if it doesn't work, the next stop is jail. One theft fits you scenario; ten do not. My opinion as an ex-DA.

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Answered on 12/14/07, 10:44 am


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