Criminal Defense
If you were cited or arrested for theft under $1,000 in Memphis, your case is a Class A misdemeanor and it is going to General Sessions Criminal Court at 201 Poplar. Here is what the next few months actually look like.
Week one: read the paper you were given
You either have a misdemeanor citation with a date and a division on it, or you have a bond sheet from booking. Both have a court date. That date is real and it is not negotiable without a lawyer’s involvement. Missing it converts a manageable misdemeanor into a warrant, and warrants make every subsequent conversation with the court harder. See what to do about a capias or bench warrant.
What the State actually has to prove
Theft under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-103 requires that you knowingly obtained or exercised control over property, without the owner’s effective consent, intending to deprive the owner of it. Grading comes from § 39-14-105 and turns on value.
Three things go wrong for the State more often than people expect:
- Value. The affidavit usually lists ticket price. The statute asks about fair market value. On a case sitting near the $1,000 line, that difference decides whether you are charged with a misdemeanor or a felony.
- The point of sale. In retail cases, whether concealment plus passing the last register actually happened — and whether anyone watched it continuously — is frequently thinner than the report suggests.
- Intent. Walking out with an item in a cart underneath a bag is not the same evidentiary picture as removing tags in a fitting room, and prosecutors know it.
The first setting
The first date in General Sessions is not a trial. It is an arraignment: the charge is stated, and the question is whether you have a lawyer. Do not plead guilty at that setting to make the day end sooner. A guilty plea to a misdemeanor theft is a conviction for dishonesty that will follow you through every job application you fill out, and it is the one outcome that is hardest to undo.
With counsel, the case is reset while we get the report, the video, the loss-prevention statement, and the valuation, and open a conversation with the prosecutor in that division.
The realistic outcomes
For a first-time client, in rough order of preference: outright dismissal where the proof will not hold; merchant restitution where the store and the prosecutor will accept it, which involves no plea at all; amendment to a non-theft offense; judicial diversion, which requires a plea but ends in dismissal and expungement on completion. A conviction should be the last option on the list, not the default.
Whatever the route, the case is not finished when the charge goes away. Get the expungement filed. A dismissed charge sits on a background check until someone petitions the court.
If the value pushes it to a felony
At $1,000 and above the case takes a different path — preliminary hearing in General Sessions, then the grand jury, then Criminal Court. The preliminary hearing is where the valuation gets tested under oath, which is exactly why waiving it is rarely a good idea. See preliminary hearings in Shelby County and felony defense.
What it costs
Misdemeanor theft in General Sessions starts at a $750 flat fee. Felony theft starts at $1,500. Court costs and restitution are separate. See full fee detail.
More: Memphis shoplifting defense · theft charges · misdemeanor defense. Call (901) 324-5000 or text 901-412-2973.