Arrested for a Third Shoplifting Offense in Morris County?

“Client charged with shoplifting in Rockaway mall and had multiple shoplifting convictions on his record. On a third shoplifting offense in New Jersey, the defendant must serve a mandatory 90 days in the county jail. In this case, we filed multiple motions in order to keep the client out of jail.”

Shoplifting charges Morris County

Have you been arrested for shoplifting in Morris County? We can help. Here is a case we successfully handled in 2018 for a client who was facing a third offense shoplifting conviction which requires a mandatory 90 days in the county jail if convicted.

Our client was a 61-year old married father who hadn’t had an arrest or conviction since 1990 (28 years ago). Unfortunately for him, his two prior convictions in 1989 and 1990 were for shoplifting. Under New Jersey law, a third conviction for shoplifting (at any time in person’s life, even almost 30 years ago), requires that the defendant serve 90 days in the county jail. This alleged shoplifting offense was in Rockaway Township in Nordstrom Rack in an amount of $74.00.

We were retained to handle the case and filed Laurick motions in the two courts where his prior convictions occurred (Wayne and Bridgewater). Because he was not represented by an attorney on those two prior cases, under New Jersey law they can not enhance his third offense to include that mandatory jail time. The argument is that he was not properly advised of his rights and the penalties involved for subsequent convictions because he did not have legal counsel.

Luckily for our client, the motion was granted in Bridgewater and the Judge there signed an Order stating that the prior conviction could not be used to enhance a subsequent conviction. This avoids the mandatory jail time. However, the Municipal Judge in Rockaway Township could still impose a jail sentence if he believed it was appropriate under the circumstances.

We submitted a sentencing brief to the Court which details our client’s age, medical issues, proof of employment, the hardship a jail sentence would impose on him and his family, the counseling he completed after this offense, and argued that he had been living a law abiding life for the last 28 years since his prior convictions and that should significantly mitigate the instant offense and the Judge agreed. He imposed a one year probationary sentence and 90 days SLAP (which is in lieu of county jail time). The SLAP program allows people to do community service instead of actual jail time.

This was a great result for our client and the Tormey Law Firm. Here is a review from our client on this case: