Retail theft citation as ordinance violation only fine impose

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I was arrested and cited for retail theft as ordinance violation for greenfield municipal court with no appearence required just payfine.

It happened in wi, I am LPR from last 7 months by marriage to US citizen

I send citation back by post to municipal court with not guilty in writing and they gave pretrial date and Village atty gave me offer bcz of my clean record that attend theft class or community service and case will be dismissed.

I am not understanding one thing as I read it is not crime it is civil forfeiture. Am i right. Concern is this clas or community service is between prosecutor (correct) and not with judge because what i read to be conviction their should be finding or admission of guilt by judge or jury and their is no jury option in municipal court in wi.

This deal village atty is giving me I dont know about disposition village atty is saying their will be no disposition Village atty says he will dismiss the case and I will not even see the judge

Atty how it works and theft class or community service for sure will not be a conviction at all.

I read some where on avvo payment of court cost, fee, diversion program are conviction I am confused totally

Please can you tell me how municipal court work with this plea deal and what will be my best choices

You were accused of having committed a crime: theft. Even if it's petty theft, it's a crime involving moral turpitude, and you'll need to remember this expression if you ever plan on becoming a US citizen.

The D.A.'s job is it to decide on whether to prosecute, to suggest a plea in lieu of a trial, or not to do anything for a number of reasons. The D.A. offered you a pre-trial deal to do community service and, if you comply, not to let this case go to trial but to dismiss it instead. So unless you are formally charged -- which you have not been so far -- and enter a plea bargain, this case will be dismissed and you will have a clean record. Know, however, that it will still be in the federal database, so you will have to be open about this at the N-400 stage.

[bharatiya 0]

You were accused of having committed a crime: theft. Even if it's petty theft, it's a crime involving moral turpitude, and you'll need to remember this expression if you ever plan on becoming a US citizen.

The D.A.'s job is it to decide on whether to prosecute, to suggest a plea in lieu of a trial, or not to do anything for a number of reasons. The D.A. offered you a pre-trial deal to do community service and, if you comply, not to let this case go to trial but to dismiss it instead. So unless you are formally charged -- which you have not been so far -- and enter a plea bargain, this case will be dismissed and you will have a clean record. Know, however, that it will still be in the federal database, so you will have to be open about this at the N-400 stage.

Is it ok to apply within 3 years(as I am married to USC) even after this has happen for N 400 or I shhall wait for 3 years from this alleged theft case citation

[Billious 32]

Ok let me help, because there's a lot of unhelpful "advice" being thrown around here.

I live in Wisconsin, and have some legal training. If you were issued a municipal citation (like you said) from the City of Greenfield, then you are dealing with an ordinance violation - not a crime. The same case probably COULD have been charged criminally through the District Attorney's office, but as the police officer chose to write it as an ordinance violation, you are in the clear.

To summarize, if you are ever asked if you have been charged with a crime, you can honestly say no. Ordinance violations in Wisconsin are basically the same thing as traffic violations. You broke the law, but are not being charged criminally.

But, here's the million dollar question - and probably why you caught so much flack here - why were you stealing? Or was it a misunderstanding? If you were stealing, you were doing a huge disservice to other immigrants who intend to be good citizens here.