Can I be found guilty of theft even if I didn’t “intend” to take the item with me when I left the store?

The answer is NO. The prosecution must prove that at the time you left the store you had the “specific intent” to take the item without paying for it. Often the DA can prove this based upon statements that the accused made to security personnel at the store or to the police soon after they were apprehended. In other cases, the DA will attempt to prove this by way of “circumstantial evidence” including the fact that you may have prior convictions for theft or that you entered the store with empty shopping bags.

A common successful defense that we use in many of our cases is that the accused was distracted in some manner and walked out of the store without “thinking” that they had store merchandise that had not been paid for. Many times our clients will tell us they were speaking on their cell phone and didn’t think they were leaving the store without paying because they were talking on the phone. Other times our clients tell us that they were shopping with young children and they had to leave the store to locate their child or to take the child to the restroom and they didn’t intend to steal the merchandise.

It is critical you speak to an experienced law firm like Wallin and Klarich to discuss the specific facts of your case so they can help you.