Theft 5th and Criminal Trespass.

I am an ex-employee of a food business who left on not so good terms 8 months prior after serving 3 yrs of employment. My employment ended regarding personal issues beween myself and the store manager. (nothing criminal).
On the date of 4/27/2008 I entered Little Caesars Pizza as a friend of a customer and 3 other friends and left without any altercation between myself and the establishment. I received a call from our local police dept. the following day and was charged with Theft 5th because an employee in the back of the store claimed that I took a pizza dip sauce (76 cents) and Criminal Trespass for walking in and out of the store when I was unknowing not allowed in. If I was ever told to leave that would be a non-issue with no drama.
According to the police report when my employment ended I was told not to return to the store which I do not recall.I have been to the store 3 times prior to the incident and talked to the co-general manager of the store in a friendly manner and was never asked to leave the premises including the cited above date. I do not have any physical proof i.e. reciepts but one of the accusers(co-manager) can account for that as well as ex/current employees that will tesify on my behalf that I entered/exited the store without issue and I was never asked to leave.
Regarding the Theft 5th of the sauce, an employee in the back of the store claimed that I took a sauce worth of 76 cents and put it in my pocket. (The pants I wear... impossible. The only time I approached where the sauce was is when I talked to the cashier whom I knew from when I worked at the establishment. I have talked to the cashier and she can testify that she did not see me take any sauce but she is very flakey and I am worried she will not show up to court. Subpoena?
I am in the process of joining the National Guard right now and I am not able to advance any further until the tickets are resolved and this has hindered me by a month and a half. IF I WAS KNOWINGLY GUILTY OF THESE CHARGES I WOULD PAY THE TICKETS AND MOVE ON. This is not about money for the tickets but the principle of the matter of these faulted accusations. Not a day goes by that I get very aggravated that these silly charges are delaying my service to my Country.

I dont know if anybody thinks this is a joke of case or not regarding the stated circumstances but this is a true case. I cannot afford a lawyer and looking for any advice. THe trial is coming soon 6/17/2008 and on a side note this has been bugging me since but havnt thought too much about it. When an Officer reads you your rights he says "if you cannot afford an attorney you will be provided one" Well at my arraignment the judge denied a public defendent on the basis that there is no jail time involved. I am in no position to argue with a Judge but can they do that?
Thank you.

I'm not sure what your question is--your first posting only contained one question mark after the word subpoena. I don't think it's necessary to subpoena witnesses for a misdemeanor ( like getting a traffic ticket). You don't need a PD for a misdemeanor. Can't you stand up and say, "Im not guilty your honor?" It isn't your job to prove you are innocent. It is THEIR job to prove that you are guilty. The word of a store employee at the back of the store a certain number of yards from you is probably not a credible witness. And, they may not have proof they told you not to return to the store. But, I suspect there is more to the story--more "proof" they have of these allegations, because quite frankly, none of this makes sense. Also, you didn't state you were never told not to return--you state you "don't remember"---I would suggest you not use that phrase in court--it suggest it is POSSIBLE they did and you simply forgot.

It doesn't seem likely that a pizza chain has the time and money to meander through court --which means taking off work, paperwork, court appearances , etc. something very foolish for the proverbial bottom line--money. The obvious question is why would they do this for a dollar item? There has to be more to the story than what you are telling me here.

Try this. Try being THEM for a moment and tell me what YOU think they are going to say to support their charges against you--whether it is true or not---try it. Spell it out.

Thank you Grace for your response. I admire that you are a very commited to this forum to help people out in need of advice. I have gathered all my credible witnesses and composed myself however sleep is not coming easy (Court -7 hours away) I ommited the reasons of me leaving from the orginal post because it would be WAY to long and not very relevant to the case. This is a family owned business and the situation involved the store managers wedding and some drama lovers who started a rumor that 2 other workers and myself were conspiring to ruin her wedding My last schedualed day was her wedding (working two jobs) and one of the other "conspirerers" spelling? no called no showed a week prior to the wedding. When I came in for my next shift the Store manager questioned me if I was also to going to quit and she grilled me even though I said I would cover her shifts. I couldn't take the treatment from her and I left my employment there. (Common occurance that people involving personal issues with professional at that particular store with different scenerios will walk out)
That is the extremly short version still but the outline of the situation just in case you were curious.

I appreciate your kind words.... and I understand the dynamics that come into play in the work force ( i.e. drama!) It may be possible that they had you arrested out of spite----and they have no intention of following through. That is a big 'if'.

Example---one day a woman came to my door screaming, and cursing, etc. I opened the door and she launched into a tirade and I closed the door and she left. After she left I signed a warrant for her arrest for trespassing and battery. She was at the wrong house--she meant to be a someone else's house yelling at them--but that didn't negate the fact that she didn't have the right to be at anyones house, screaming, creating a disturbance, etc. However, pressing charges against her cost me a lot of time and money--I had to drive to court for the arraignment, for the hearing, for the trial, etc. All for a misdemeanor charge. My point is it wasn't really worth my time and effort to go through all of that---it inconvenienced me more than it did her. BUT it was worth it to me because she got the message.

The parallel I am trying to make is--maybe their message is spite---have you arrested, but they don't care enough to follow through, and prosecute the case. Many times in cases like this---you show up, they never show, and the case is dropped. I cannot imagine a franchise pizza chain having the time OR money to prosecute for a dollar item. Their purpose could be served just as easily by serving you with a trespass notice. If there is a lot of drama involved, and a lot of hard feelings, I would suggest you not go back there and face the charges--remember they have to PROVE you did it. If what you are saying is true, I don't see substantive evidence that you committed the crime. Remember the standard of proof is 99.9%---the testimony of an employee at the back of the store is hardly credible.

There may be other things that come into play like---perhaps they can PROVE the told you not to come back--if they can, then, that changes things. Also, all the drama stuff you told me about isn't something they could use as PROOF you stole something.

Can you pretend you are them and "accuse" yourself? What would they say, or what would they offer as proof that you did commit a crime?

An update, court could have not gone better. They did show up to trial however. I should have hired the City Prosecuter as my defence attorney! They had two witnesses for the accusers and when the CP asked them questions they destoyed their own credibility completely. They used a lot of hearsay and "I don't know" phrases. With the addition of my witnesses it was a landslide. First time I was to any form of court. I must say it was exhilarating, especially the win.

I didn't expect that an employee standing so far from you could be a credible witness.

Congrats!