You were arrested in Manhattan, Brooklyn or Queens and given a shoplifting Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT or D.A.T.) charging you with New York Penal Law 165.40 (Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fifth Degree) or New York Penal Law 155.25 (Petit Larceny). You are a teacher, lawyer, physician or you work in finance. The collateral consequences beyond a conviction are enormous for you in terms of your career. Compounding matters, when store security grabbed you and brought you into the backroom, they bullied you into signing a “Trespass Notice” and financial forfeiture or restitution agreement. Even worse, they just snapped a photo of you with a digital camera. It is fairly clear that you need a New York criminal lawyer to advance your best defense to avoid any blemish on your clean record, but you need to discuss with that shoplifting New York criminal defense attorney what you just signed away in the backroom of Macys, Bloomingdales, Century 21 or any other department store in New York City.
What is the Trespass Notice