San Diego criminal defense attorney Jessica McElfresh recently assisted a young mother and nurse after a misdemeanor charge of petty theft for shoplifting put her permanent record and in turn her career in significant danger. Allegedly, loss prevention agents at a local department store noticed the woman on video concealing items before attempting to check out. The woman knew that if she was convicted of a theft-related offense, it would cause a lot of problems when she needed to explain the situation to future employers or the state nursing board. In an effort to avoid this embarrassing outcome, the woman decided to retain the experienced and highly skilled San Diego criminal defense lawyers with McElfresh Law.
After taking the case, attorney Jessica McElfresh set to work on her client’s behalf. By reviewing the evidence as well as all of the contributing factors, attorney McElfresh learned that her client was simultaneously dealing with a painful divorce and a severe case of postpartum depression. Attorney McElfresh shared this realization with the assigned prosecutor and explained that a substantial overlap existed between instances of shoplifting and individuals suffering from depression. This allowed McElfresh to illustrate the very difficult situation that her client was facing and she effectively negotiated to have the petty theft charge adjusted to a much less severe charge of disturbing the peace. Ultimately, her client was very pleased with this outcome, which removed a lot of her anxiety about having a theft charge impacting her reputation or livelihood.
The outcome of an individual case depends on a variety of factors unique to that case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any similar or future case