Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

I have been accused of stealing from a local coffee stand and was served papers of a court date as well as a no trespassing from the coffee stand. When I drove up on the coffee stand, the barista was not in there, so I waited for close to 15 minutes. I purchased my drink, paid for it and left. After being home for about 20 minutes, a police officer came to my door, saying that the barista had given him my license plate number and described my car saying that she saw me stealing a cookie that had been left outside of the stand. I am innocent but am confused about how to prove this. What can I do???


Asked on 10/28/09, 4:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
James J. White, attorney Law Offices of Smith & White, PLLC

Well, first, hire a lawyer. This is really about stealing a cookie? This case is kind of amusing although I doubt a jury would be amused that the prosecutor was wasting their time on this. The problem with most crimes is that it is very difficult to prove you didn't do it. Fortunately, the burden is on the government to prove that you did. Absent some invoice records and sales receipts, I doubt they could even prove there was a missing cookie, much less that you took it. At your service,

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Answered on 11/02/09, 4:53 pm


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