Urgent Help with Shoplifting case

[prayaspatel03]

My wife has been charge for shoplifting case. We have plea bargain after two days. I also talked with criminal lawyer . He told me he can try to reduce charges but he dont know about immigration aspect of that charge.

What charges we should take so that it will not have immigration problem? What level we can reduce it to ?


Senior member please help !!!!

Thanks,

[fiber]

I am not sure how shoplifting can be reduced. If you wife stole something from a shop, then that's shoplifting. Shoplifting is also a CIMT which makes it hard for immigration purposes. Shoplifting is theft and I don't think a charge for theft can be reduced to another offense. The only charge I can think of is petty larceny, and even that is a CIMT.

Bottom line is, if your wife took something from the shop permanently, any reduced charge will still be CIMT.

[rayb]

Different states and even local court systems routinely substitute more euphenistic offense names for more serious crimes. "Receiving stolen property" or "possession of burglary tools" are common plea offenses for burglary offenses. Shoplifting might be changed to something more innocuous like "tresspassing" or "malicious mischief." Having a misdemeanor conviction for something which sounds like immature behavior might easily be overlooked ratjerr than a conviction offense name which suggests criminal behavior.

--Ray B

My wife has been charge for shoplifting case. We have plea bargain after two days. I also talked with criminal lawyer . He told me he can try to reduce charges but he dont know about immigration aspect of that charge.

What charges we should take so that it will not have immigration problem? What level we can reduce it to ?


Senior member please help !!!!

Thanks,

[Marcus4321]

Did your wife actually do the offence or is it some misunderstanding? Maybe if you give a little more details we can help. In case if she has done it, the best thing to do now is to call a really good theft lawyer who will make sure that your wife gets only the minimum punishment. And most of the lawyers will have an idea about the impacts it will have on immigration. If your lawyer doesn't then maybe you should meet a new lawyer, one who can help you in all aspects of this case.

[rayb]

Marcus,

As a rule, attorneys who do criminal court work, or who are just generalists (doing probate or work for government agencies) know darn little about immigration work.

One can easily pay $5,000 to $10,000 to an immigration attorney who purports to handling criminal offense immigration issues, and it's still a crap shoot.

At least the attorney for the poster is being honest about his unfamiliarity with immigration issues, and that sort of honesty is not always found in the ranks of average attorneys who are scrambling for fees in a country that has too many attorneys already.

My suggestion is to seek "community service," with a provision that the conviction will be removed from the subject's record.

I'm not sure what a suggestion to seek information from a Toronto attorney website might do to help someone with this problem in the States, as legal practice is probably much different in Canada than in the U.S.

--Ray B

Did your wife actually do the offence or is it some misunderstanding? Maybe if you give a little more details we can help. In case if she has done it, the best thing to do now is to call a really good theft lawyer who will make sure that your wife gets only the minimum punishment. And most of the lawyers will have an idea about the impacts it will have on immigration. If your lawyer doesn't then maybe you should meet a new lawyer, one who can help you in all aspects of this case.