{"id":408,"date":"2018-07-05T10:27:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T14:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearwatercriminallawyer.net\/?p=408"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:18:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:18:29","slug":"shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoplifting at Florida Wal-Mart Doesn\u2019t Justify Fraud Charge, Court Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In order to be convicted of a crime in Florida, a judge or jury has to find beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the specific offense with which you have been charged. That means the burden is on prosecutors to prove each individual element of an offense, including specific intent in many cases. Florida\u2019s First District Court of appeal <a href=\"https:\/\/edca.1dca.org\/DCADocs\/2017\/0702\/170702_1287_06282018_09342727_i.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recently explained<\/a> that shoplifting, for example, involves a different type of intent than fraud. The decision is important because a person can\u2019t be convicted of a crime for which he or she hasn\u2019t been charged, unless it\u2019s considered a \u201clesser included offense.\u201dDefendant was charged with participating in a scheme to defraud, stemming from a series of alleged Wal-Mart shoplifting incidents in Live Oak. Prosecutors alleged that on various occasions Defendant entered the store, loaded items into a shopping cart, and then ran out of the store with those items without paying. Defendant argued that he should be acquitted of the charge because prosecutors didn\u2019t show that he acted with the intent to defraud or that he made any misrepresentations as part of the alleged thefts. Prosecutors countered that Defendant misrepresented that he was \u201ca lawful paying customer\u201d every time he left the store without paying for the items.<\/p>\n<p>The trial judge denied Defendant\u2019s motion for acquittal. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to three years in prison and another two years of probation. Defendant later appealed the conviction.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/#more-408\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In order to be convicted of a crime in Florida, a judge or jury has to find beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the specific offense with which you have been charged. That means the burden is on prosecutors to prove each individual element of an offense, including specific intent in many cases. Florida\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fraud","category-grand-theft"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When Does Shoplifting Wal Mart Justify Fraud Charge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dealing with theft charges? See how this ruling on shoplifting wal mart doesnt may help or hurt your defense in Clearwater. Find out what this means?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"When Does Shoplifting Wal Mart Justify Fraud Charge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Dealing with theft charges? See how this ruling on shoplifting wal mart doesnt may help or hurt your defense in Clearwater. 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Find out what this means?","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"headline":"Shoplifting at Florida Wal-Mart Doesn\u2019t Justify Fraud Charge, Court Says","datePublished":"2018-07-05T14:27:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:18:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/"},"wordCount":533,"articleSection":["Fraud","Grand Theft"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/shoplifting-at-florida-wal-mart-doesnt-justify-fraud-charge-court-says\/","name":"When Does Shoplifting Wal Mart Justify Fraud Charge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-05T14:27:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-31T18:18:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneyclearwater.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/03dc1d8f0e988aa69b0efe5d06eeb939"},"description":"Dealing with theft charges? 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