Petite Larceny, court is tomorrow?

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

About 3 months ago my gf and I stole 5 cans of beer from a Sheetz Gas Station.
A clerk sweeping the floor thought it was strange how quick we walked in an out of the alcohol section so he asked a cop outside to go check us.

We go to court tomorrow.
We've been to our arraignment which was two months ago.

I've read on another topic on here that a person was only given the plea bargain the second time they went to court, as then they were given a 3rd court date.

Will this be the case for my girlfriend and I?
Tomorrow we go to court around 1pm and we have no idea what to expect.
I've read some answers on forums from those who've gone to court for stealing and they were given a slap on the wrist.

I've read other answers from lawyers and from those who've never been tried for this event and they say i could get so many different things.

Because we stole beer, my gf being 19 and myself being 20, we were both given a misdemeanor for larceny as well as a class 1 misdemeanor for possession of alcohol under 21.

I turn 21 in 2 months.

So...
-will we be given a plea tomorrow and then have to come back another day, or will we have to plea as soon as we go into court.

-what should we plea? No contest, not guilty, guilty?
We're trying not to go for guilty as i've read that'll ultimately lead to a record being over our heads.

We can't afford a lawyer right now as we were jobless when we stole and being as we both have pending charges it was incredibly hard to find a job as it is.. I went from working in Insurance before all of this to now working at a Taco Bell making minimum wage...

I got my old job back as I was then fired 2 days later during training because they saw that i had a pending charge.

-Will we be tried seperately or together being as we commited the crime together and were given court dates for the same day and same time?

-Should we ask for an ACD? Or is there something better than an ACD? When exactly should we ask for this?

This is ruining a lot of our plans and we find what we did to be the stupidest decision we've ever made and we're really trying to get this charge taking off for good so we can move as we originally planned and get things moving as they were before.

I doubt we'd have any jail time though i've read what some others plea bargains were if they plead guilty and some have gotten jail as a part of the plea... though... they did steal much more than what my gf and I stole or they had charges mounted upon loads of others.

This is our first offence each.
I had a bomb threat charge on me when I was 16 as a friend and I smeared the word 'bomb' with a date for 2 days later in a splotch of spraypaint that had been on the side of a bathroom stall that was in a building that was supposed to be torn down very soon so we didn't even think it'd explode into a class 1 felony.. some kids doing after school sports saw the sentence and reported it as a $400 reward would be given out to anyone who had information and my friend blamed it on me.... so it followed me until i was 18 with probation, detention homes, community service.. etcccc as then it was 'expunged'...

though the court rather than informing me it was expunged told me it'd never be able to be seen by anyone in the future as it was to be 'deleted for good'.. though i've been told by others that that is not true that courts can still see it if they want..

could my judge see this and give me an even harsher punishment because of this? Is he allowed to bring this up being as it happened when i was 16?
The courts then told me they knew it was a joke, they just wanted to give me such a punishment to set an example of me for the students at my school..

What should I have my girlfriend plea or say if we're tried seperately?
We really need some way of getting this taken off of our record as soon as possible even if we have to go through community service and probation.. we just really don't want jail..


also.. i've read that jail and prison are two seperate things...
being as prison has a pretty definate portrait painted of itself.. what is the concept of 'jail'? if it's not the same as prison?
when i was in a detention home at 16 i had concrete walls.. i slept on a concrete block with a see through blanket that didn't cover a 3rd of my body and we had 24 hours of light turned on in our cells. we had to watch the tv when we were told to watch it. We had to eat when we were told to eat.. etc..
what is jail and what are the chances of this being as we habe 2 charges.

Sorry for such a long post but court date is tomorrow and i'm looking for definate highly helpful answers... thank you!!!

You should have sought legal counsel at your arraignment (or earlier). If you were truly indigent you should seek a public defender. I'd ask the judge for counsel now. He's not going to be happy you waited until trial, but generally will allow it. If you get a continuance for counsel, do not expect any leniency if you show up without one at the new court date.

What makes you think that the Commonwealth's attorney is inclined to give you a plea bargain?

Generally, you plea not guilty unless you have good legal counsel to do otherwise.

There's no such thing as ACD in Virginia, that's a NY state thing. They won't even know what you're talking about if you mention it. There's no state wide diversion or other first offender treatment for shoplifting. Some counties might have it. The ones around here in Northern Virginia do not.

Trying you together or not is at the discretion of the CA. If you have a compelling argument to separate the cases you might make it, though I can't see what that would be or how it would help you.

You are right, law enforcement and the courts will have access to your expunged priors.

If you are convicted as an adult in Virginia, there is NO WAY you are getting this off your record short of a Governor's pardon and that's not bloody likely.

Misdemeanors result in the possibility of jail. Jails are run by the counties where as the prison system are run by the state. Many of the county jails are no bargain condition and overcrowding-wise.

Went to court the other day, posting what happened in case someone with my similar situation happens to come by this,

We were in a room with a handful of other people, all in which had committed other crimes such as traffic violations, theft, etc..

When the judge called my girlfriend up first, the manage of sheetz was there as well. The judge called the managers name, and then my girlfriends name.

The officer came up and began to give his statement as the judge asked where the other gentleman was who was involved with this. He called my name causing my girlfriend and I to become tried together.

He spoke quietly to us so that the rest of the court room could not hear our conversation, as he did with those before us.

We were given a $500 fine for the possession of alcohol under 21, and a $161 fine for the theft.

He asked if we would rather pay a total of $661 or do 50 hours of community service.

We chose the fine as it'd be quickest to get out of the way.
We were informed that once we paid the $661, in which we've been given half a year to pay off, that our alcohol charge would go away.

The theft charge would stay.
I asked if there was anything we could do to get the charge dismissed and we were informed that it would stay with us for life.

Speaking with other officers later that day, I was informed that if I wait about a year, maybe even half a year.. as long as I stayed out of trouble, I could request the charge to be expunged and more than likely the judge would do so.

soooo....

no probation, no community service, no piss test, no alcohol or theft classes, no $1k fines etc..

we simply got $661 each to pay off and a record.

Which in my case got me back into selling my art :]
But it was a tap on the wrist as those who'd been to court for this situation had told me...

Had no lawyer, the judge didn't mind that we had no lawyer.
Though, he was in a pretty good mood.
So who knows if that's what effected the outcome or not.

But hopefully I can get this record expunged in some months or a year.