Wrongfully charged; what should we do?

[JW1933]

Recently my 19-year-old fiancee recieved via mail a document informing her that she was being charged with "larceny of property". The complainant in this matter is a lady who attends our church, and she alleges that, to my understanding, an amount between $30 and $50 was taken from her purse while attending choir practice. Aside from the fact that for the duration of the time, my fiancee and I were not even in the building, this seems like a trivial matter to be bringing before the court. My fiancee has never been through court proceedings; however, she is understandably upset. While nobody in her family believes that, even if she should be found guilty, she would go to jail for something so minor, however, such things have happened before. If anybody could offer us any advice, counsel, etc., it would be greatly appreciated. If preferable, our joint email address is [email protected]. Thank you.

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate, currently awaiting Bar results. What I offer to you is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney-client relationship.


Okay, well, if you were with her one hundred percent of the time this woman alleges was when her money was stolen, your fiancee has an airtight case (probably). I say probably because if you were her only witness that she was with you, there might that whole issue of bias.

You can sue the woman civilly, if your fiancee is found innocent for the following:
malcious prosecution and abuse of process. These are legal terms of art that boil down to one thing: false accusations and getting the court involved one way or another.


I say go to attorneypages.com and find yourself an attorney who specializes in criminal law, including larceny (a felony). This is not something you want to tackle on your own.

Hope this helps.

 

[diamond]

If this is a small claims case which it sounds like it should be then the judge will put the burden on her to bring forth some evidence to prove that your fiancee actually stole the money from her. It doesn't sound like she has any evidence so I wouldn't worry too much over this.