Building a Maryland Shoplifting Defense

While the prospect of being charged for shoplifting may be overwhelming, there are a host of strategies that could be utilized by shoplifting lawyers as a defense. A seasoned defense attorney could use their experience to represent the accused in court. Reach out to a well-versed attorney who could fight tirelessly on your behalf.

Strategies a Lawyer Could Use When Preparing a Defense

A person’s defense attorney could have the accuser be present to testify in court. In a shoplifting case, very often an employee may represent the accusing company as their CEO may not appear in court, notably if it is a national or international establishment. In certain cases, the local business manager or a loss prevention officer from the store may show up.

The defendant’s lawyer needs to establish that the company’s representative is an authorized agent of the agency and that they are not qualified to produce evidence themselves, which means they cannot testify that they are qualified as an agent of the business. Typically, attorneys could show this with some documentation from the owner or manager of the business. If they do not have such documents available, and the Government does not produce them, the defense attorney may argue that the Government cannot meet an element, which is that the accused took the property without permission.

While these elements may seem to be common sense or may appear to be a given with certain fact patterns, they should be proven. The Government must still offer evidence that the accused did not have permission to take the property in question, and the only source for such evidence or permission may be the business owner or representative agent of the business owner testifying. If the government is not able to produce such a witness to testify as to the permission in question, the Government may be unable to prove the charge. Given the facts of each specific situation, this is one of the defenses that is often used.

What Does a Prosecutor Need to Prove in a Shoplifting Case?

With the requirement to prove that the accused took the property without permission, the State must also prove that the person did take the property. Prosecutors typically attempt to prove this element by showing that the person walked out of the store without paying and with the property in their possession, whether it was in their hands, concealed on their own person, or concealed in a bag. In certain cases, the accused may have been detained before they even left the store.

This is often called “when the person passed the point of purchase,” which means they walked past the registers without exiting the building when a security guard or an officer detains the person. Given the layout of the store, since some stores have their cash registers in the middle, it may not be clear that the accused was even attempting to leave or was simply continuing to shop in a different area of the store.

The intent to actually take the property is not always clear. The prosecutor needs to prove that the accused person knew they had the property with them. If the person purchased 10 items and they forgot to scan and another item or forgot that another item was in their bag or in their pocket, the Government would be required to prove that they were intending to take that item and did not simply forgot to pay for the one item in question.

Initial Steps that an Attorney Could Take on Behalf of the Accused

In a shoplifting case, the lawyer typically reviews allegations in the charging document that were filed by the State and then discuss the facts of the case with the accused. The attorney may then look very closely at the evidence, or the discovery, produced by the State of Maryland to begin building a defense for the shoplifting allegations. Very often there may be surveillance footage that the State must be turned over. There may also be internal documents that were produced by the business.

Most businesses have a Loss Prevention Officer who basically works as a security guard, and they have an internal procedure to document allegations of the shoplifting. That may include:

• Taking statements from the defendant
• Trying to get the defendant to sign an admission of guilt
• Take photographs
• Surveillance footage

Evidence the Defense Could Collect From the State

The State may need to turn over and produce all that documentation and video so that the accused’s lawyer is able to review when building a Maryland shoplifting defense. In doing so, they could determine:

• If the allegations line up with what actually happened
• If there are any inconsistencies
• If evidence that was produced is incomplete
• If the security person did not actually witness firsthand what the accused did but merely watched a surveillance video
• If the defense does not get the entirety of the surveillance video (knowing they could edit the clips, or they are not related to what happened)

Since it is unknown what was edited, the defense attorney may be able to make an argument that the State must turn over the entire surveillance footage or the case should be dismissed to prevent the defendant from being unable to defend themselves.

A Maryland Shoplifting Attorney Could Help

Let a skilled attorney begin building a Maryland shoplifting defense on your behalf. A tenacious lawyer could review the allegations lodged against the accused, gather the necessary evidence, and fight to disprove the State’s claims. Accused individuals may benefit greatly from speaking with a knowledgeable attorney. Reach out today and let a lawyer champion your case.