Q: What will happen on 1st offense shoplifting and no criminal record? Paying my bond
A: Often times the prosecutor will take all of the facts, including a clean record, in to account when negotiating a plea. You need to retain a lawyer to attempt to negotiate on your behalf. Possible punishment for a guilty plea ranges from probation to jail time and/or a fine.
A:
If you're not going to hire an attorney, you need to take a quick look at http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title35/ar43/ch4.html, which sets out property crimes in Indiana. If you are charged with Theft, it's a D felony punishable by a sentence of 6 months to 3 years, with an advisory [or starting point] of 18 months. Any or all of the sentence can be "suspended" [held in abeyance] and you could be ordered to serve it on probation. Of course, if you violate probation by committing a new crime or by breaking other rules that you have agreed to follow, you can have your probation revoked and you can be sent to jail/DOC to complete your suspended term.
The Court has the right, if you have a clean record as you say, to treat the D felony as a misdemeanor, either at the time of the original plea/sentence or wait to see if you satisfactorily complete probation.
The case can also be charged as an A misdemeanor conversion, which has a maximum term of 1 year. Under Indiana good time credit provisions, if you behave yourself, you get TWO days of credit for every day you serve in jail and now . . . with a recent law change . . . if you serve it on home detention.
Having said all of that, I'd be SHOCKED if you received anything other than probation . . . unless you were shoplifting a $2500 washer/dryer set or something similar.
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