Criminal Defense
Germantown theft cases split into two very different paths, and which one you are on depends entirely on the dollar figure written on the affidavit.
Under $1,000: Germantown Municipal Court
A misdemeanor theft charged by Germantown PD can be resolved in Germantown Municipal Court at 1930 South Germantown Road. The court sits one evening a week, which is convenient and also means the docket moves quickly — decisions get made faster than most people expect, and showing up without counsel to a fast docket is how people end up with convictions they did not intend to accept.
$1,000 and up: Shelby County
A felony cannot be disposed of in Germantown. It goes to Shelby County General Sessions at 201 Poplar for a preliminary hearing and then to the grand jury. If you were arrested rather than cited, you were transported to the Shelby County Jail for booking regardless of where the stop happened.
A felony that can be reduced to a misdemeanor, though, can sometimes come back to Germantown to be resolved — which is one reason the valuation fight matters so much and so early.
The valuation fight
Germantown’s retail corridors along Poplar generate a steady stream of theft cases, and Germantown PD has been active on organized retail theft investigations. Loss-prevention paperwork tends to use retail price, aggregate multiple visits, and count items that never left the store. The statute asks for fair market value on what was actually taken. On a case sitting near the line, testing that number is the difference between an evening in municipal court and a felony in Criminal Court.
Keeping it off your record
Dismissal, merchant restitution with no plea entered, amendment to a non-theft offense, or judicial diversion — the same routes available downtown are available here, and which one is realistic depends on the store, the prosecutor, and your record. Whichever way it ends, file the expungement; a dismissed charge does not clear itself.
What it costs
Misdemeanor theft starts at a $750 flat fee. Felony theft starts at $1,500. See full fee detail.
More: shoplifting defense · Memphis misdemeanor theft cases · Germantown criminal defense. Office (901) 324-5000 · 901-412-2973.