A client was accused of shoplifting in a grocery store, and appeared in Manchester Superior Court. S/he was charged with Larceny 6 (53a-125b). (Larceny 6 is for charges where the items taken were under $500).
It was not the client’s first arrest, and s/he was unable to use Accelerated Rehabilitation.
There is another program, the Supervised Diversionary Program (“SDP”), for individuals who have mental health problems other than drug dependency.
I argued that my client was not shoplifting out of necessity, but due to an undiagnosed underlying mental health issue and convinced the judge to allow the client to be interviewed for the program.
The client was sent to a local counselling center for a diagnosis, and was indeed found to have an undiagnosed illness that was deemed to have contributed to the shoplifting.
The client was granted the Supervised Diversionary Program, and the charges were dropped.
This happened in 2023.
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