Petit Larceny

I have received an 'Appearance Ticket' telling me that I am to go to court for a charge of petit larceny and I was looking for some advise on where to start looking for answers on how to gets this to go away.

My friend is a cashier at a local gas station and I was getting things I wanted and put them in my pocket.The After that, i hung out there for like another 15 minutes and he closed the store down, with me inside.Then the village police came in with the owner and took the cashier to the police station and also took me over there because they wanted to question me. I didn't have any charges until they escorted me outside and took me to the police station. It turned out that they got my friend on grand larceny and when they where questioning me, I willingly gave them the items I took from the store.

My questions are...
(1) Because they came in and escorted me outside of the store, could I fight the charge for petit larceny, because it wasn't theft until I went outside w/o paying for the item and the police officer took me outside so i didn't leave the store freely.
(2) They said that I am in violation of section 155.25 of the penal law of the state of [state name]. I want to know if I could challenge the jurisdiction of the courts.
(3) During the whole time, I was never read my rights and not arrested. I was told to go to court and see what happens, but I wasn't processed/fingerprinted. I am told that i was being charged. My court date is set. Wouldn't this be a technicality?

[quasimodo]

Originally Posted by Savior

I have received an 'Appearance Ticket' telling me that I am to go to court for a charge of petit larceny and I was looking for some advise on where to start looking for answers on how to gets this to go away.

My friend is a cashier at a local gas station and I was getting things I wanted and put them in my pocket.The After that, i hung out there for like another 15 minutes and he closed the store down, with me inside.Then the village police came in with the owner and took the cashier to the police station and also took me over there because they wanted to question me. I didn't have any charges until they escorted me outside and took me to the police station. It turned out that they got my friend on grand larceny and when they where questioning me, I willingly gave them the items I took from the store.

My questions are...
(1) Because they came in and escorted me outside of the store, could I fight the charge for petit larceny, because it wasn't theft until I went outside w/o paying for the item and the police officer took me outside so i didn't leave the store freely.
(2) They said that I am in violation of section 155.25 of the penal law of the state of [state name]. I want to know if I could challenge the jurisdiction of the courts.
(3) During the whole time, I was never read my rights and not arrested. I was told to go to court and see what happens, but I wasn't processed/fingerprinted. I am told that i was being charged. My court date is set. Wouldn't this be a technicality?

First, nobody here offers legal advice.

Second,

http://dictionary.law.com/
entrapment
n. in criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal." Entrapment, if proved, is a defense to a criminal prosecution. The accused often claims entrapment in so-called "stings" in which undercover agents buy or sell narcotics, prostitutes' services or arrange to purchase goods believed to be stolen. The factual question is: Would Johnny Begood have purchased the drugs if not pressed by the narc?

Third, ALWAYS CHALLENGE JURISDICTION.

[quasimodo]

(devil's advocate)
You should have told the officer before he led you outside that you had an item you needed to pay for before you left the store, or placed the item on the counter before leaving the store.

could someone point me in the direction of how to go about challenging jurisdiction? Also I would like to apologize for asking for legal advise.

[farmer_giles_of_ham]

Check the complaint and see if the facts alleged match EACH and EVERY element of the offense charged, the one you mentioned by code#

For this you will need to to look up the defintions of this legal item.

This would be a challenge to the jurisidction over the charge if there was something missing: a charge is allegations + defined offense, to begin with.

Just, "walked out of the store with stuff in pockets following police and owner instruction" may not be quite the defintion created by the state legislature...