If you need to go to the 20th District Court for your Dearborn Heights Michigan misdemeanor or felony retail fraud allegation, you need an exceptional and zealous criminal defense lawyer who will fight on your behalf. No matter if your accusation is from a national retail store (such as Target, Home Depot, or Walgreens), or a locally based Dearborn Heights business we can help defend you. Get experienced lawyer Daniel Hilf to handle your shoplifting legal defense for immediate action and aggressive steps taken toward achieving the best results given the facts and circumstances. Leading retail theft criminal defense specialist Daniel Hilf appears before the Judges at the 20th District Court (25637 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn Heights 48125), and throughout the metropolitan Detroit area on a regular basis, aggressively defending all retail fraud related charges.
Having to go before a Judge to address a shoplifting accusation may seem scary, depressing, and overwhelming. It is important to remember that this charge does not make you a bad person. In fact, retail fraud is prosecuted by the Dearborn Heights City Attorney and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office daily, but it is often based upon a single allegation of attempted shoplifting due to a temporary lapse in judgment. However, just because these charges are heard daily at the 20th District Court and elsewhere in Michigan it does not mean that there are not serious long term repercussions or that it will not affect your future in an extremely negative way. Any retail theft conviction can alter the course of your future, because a sentence from this conviction may include any or all of the following outcomes: the loss of your freedom (incarceration); probation with strict supervisory conditions; loss of employment; professional licensing issues (for lawyers, accountants, stock brokers, nurses and other positions that require either State or Federal licensing); loss of educational opportunities; steep fines and costs; immigration complications (for persons that are not United States citizens); and personal embarrassment. Without a shadow of a doubt – you need the best lawyer that you can hire, who is one hundred percent on your side and working to obtain your best result.
Retail theft can theoretically be committed in several different ways, including: when store merchandise is stolen or an attempt to steal store merchandise is made by a person; when the price tag of the merchandise is intentionally changed to a lower price to defraud the store; or when merchandise is fraudulently exchanged in order to obtain money or other store merchandise. Felony and misdemeanor shoplifting cases that are prosecuted at the 20th District Court in Dearborn Heights and other Wayne County courtrooms include the following:
First Degree Retail Fraud is a felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence (however, incarceration can be avoided at the discretion of the Court because there is no mandatory minimum sentence) that is prosecuted when the merchandise involved is $1,000 (one thousand dollars) or more, or if the merchandise involved is $200 (two hundred dollars) or more and the person has a prior theft conviction.
Organized Retail Theft is felony charge that carries up to a 5 year maximum prison sentence (however, incarceration can be avoided at the discretion of the Court because there is no mandatory minimum sentence) that is also subject to applicable habitual offender sentencing provisions. The allegation is prosecuted in Dearborn Heights and other area courtrooms when the prosecution believes it has probable cause that the intent of the accused is to commit retail theft from one or more stores and then resell the stolen merchandise to other persons or businesses.
Second Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence (however, incarceration can be avoided at the discretion of the Court because there is no mandatory minimum sentence), that is prosecuted when the merchandise involved is at least $200 (two hundred dollars) but less than $1000 (one thousand dollars), or if the merchandise involved is under $200 (two hundred dollars) and the person has a prior theft conviction.
Third Degree Retail Fraud is a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a 93 day maximum county jail sentence (however, incarceration can be avoided at the discretion of the Court because there is no mandatory minimum sentence), that is prosecuted under either State law or local ordinance, when the merchandise involved in the offense is less than $200 (two hundred dollars).
Removal of a Theft Detection Device is a misdemeanor charges that carries up to a 1 year maximum county jail sentence (however, incarceration can be avoided at the discretion of the Court because there is no mandatory minimum sentence), that is prosecuted under State law.
A large number of stores in Dearborn Heights and across America have well designed loss prevention practices with the goal of reducing overall retail fraud losses, avoiding contested litigation, and deterring others from committing store theft. A team of loss protection workers and surveillance equipment (such as merchandise sensors, high resolution video cameras, and closed circuit television) are commonly found within large retail stores for the purpose of combating the liabilities and costs associated with retail theft. Even with best technology and extensive employee training, mistakes are still made and persons are still sometimes falsely arrested due to errors in judgment (such as false identification and wrongfully interpreting a situation), cultural related issues, and procedural errors.
If you retain attorney Daniel Hilf to defend your Dearborn Heights shoplifting accusation he will obtain all the available discovery materials to fully and properly defend you, which can include the following: police report(s), loss prevention report(s), witness statement(s), in store video(s), police video(s), photograph(s), statement(s) the police and/or loss prevention claims that you made. Attorney Daniel Hilf will provide you with courtroom tested, well reasoned advice concerning whether to conduct a trial in front of a Judge or jury, or whether to choose to accept a plea or plea bargain and try and persuade the Judge to sentence you reasonably and leniently. However, it is ultimately your choice to have a trial or to seek a resolution of your case through a plea, plea bargain, and/or sentence agreement (provided that a plea bargain and/or sentence agreement is available).
You should not delay in your decision to hire a zealous and experienced legal representative to help you. As stated previously, a theft conviction will likely cause you many difficulties in addition to the strict criminal penalties, including making it extremely challenging to find a well paying job or a highly desired career, because many companies do not want to risk hiring someone convicted of stealing. Hire a knowledgable and respected defense attorney for your Dearborn Heights based allegation – attorney Daniel Hilf – to help you, because his finely honed legal acumen and his over twenty years of experience inside and outside of Michigan courtrooms is exactly the type of legal representation that you need to confront a retail fraud charge.
If you have to appear before a Judge or magistrate due to a Dearborn Heights shoplifting incident, now is the right time to make an impactful decision concerning your legal representation. Contact Hilf & Hilf, PLC today to schedule a confidential office appointment to obtain the high quality legal defense that you need.