What should i bring to a pretrial hearing?

I agree, hire an attorney. If you cannot afford one, ask that one be appointed for you. Based on the facts as you say, you MAY be eligible for a first time offenders program / diversion. IF one is available and If you are admitted to the same, you will enter a plea of guilty to the charge. You will be put on probation and you will be required to do some things: ie attend some classes, pay a fee, community service, not get in trouble for a certain period of time. IF you do all that is asked of you the charges will be dismissed. If you don't comply you will be sentenced on the charge based on your guilty plea. It is a good option if you can stay out of trouble for at least the required time frame. You get one bite at this apple. IF you screw up again, there will be no diversion. I would hire an attorney.

I will answer your question shortly, but first I hope that you have retained counsel to represent you in this case. The main reason for hiring counsel is that a lawyer will be able to successfully resolve your case through negotation than you can realistically do on your own. The dynamic is much better for your ATTORNEY to talk about you, than YOU talking about you. Your lawyer will say "My client is a good person who, through a serious lapse of judgment on his/her part, made a really stupid decision. S/He has never done anything like this before and comes from a good family. I could convince him/her to plead guilty to a crime, if the State were willing to reduce this to something lower than a Misdemeanor 1, say a Misdemeanor 4. What do you think about that possibility?" Now imagine for a second you are a Prosecutor and the Defendant comes in without a lawyer and says "I am a really good person who, through a serious lapse of judgment on my part, made a really stupid decision...." As the Prosecutor, you would like immediately stop the Defendant and say something like "Yeah, you decided to STEAL...THAT was your 'lapse in judgment.'!!!" See how you lose credibility and negotiation stance when you try to do this yourself? It just doesn't work anywhere near as well as it would work if you had a lawyer representing you. So I hope you do hire a good criminal defense attorney! In terms of what to bring, I would suggest some type of report from school showing that you get good grades, etc. A character letter from your employer saying that you are good, responsible, TRUSTWORTHY, punctual, dependable, reliable employee who is intergral to the business would really help. Also, if you can get another character letter from someone who knows you personally (an elected official, another law enforcement officer, a priest/minister/rabbi, etc.) also attesting to your traits and credibility, that will help influence the Prosecutor to perhaps move from a M-1 Theft down to a M-4 Criminal Trespass or Disorderly Conduct. I hope this has answered your question. Good luck in finding an experienced lawyer and on the case in general. Atty. Dennis A. DiMartino 1032 Boardman-Canfield Road Suite 103 Youngstown, Ohio 44512-4238 330.629.9030 Ext. 111 Phone 330.629.9036 FAX [email protected]