Q: Me and my wife were caught shop lifting at Sams club for merchandise worth $153 and were given a citation.

A: Retailers can demand payment of a civil penalty. Some might confuse that with a court citation, which is a separate action. In any event, payment of a court citation without appearing in court results in a conviction, normally of a petty misdemeanor - though sometimes court records imply a misdemeanor conviction. Though a petty misdemeanor is "not a crime," the court conviction record would be a public one, easily available to anyone online. Most people wish to keep their public court record clean of any convictions. To accomplish that one would respond to the citation by contacting the court to set up a court date; then appear at the court date, with or without a lawyer. (You can apply for a public defender on the First Appearance date at the courthouse. Each co-defendant would need a separate lawyer.) If it were me or anyone I cared about, I'd make the effort to keep a conviction off my record.

A: The charge you are facing is a mandatory appearance and you do not have the option of paying the fine over the phone. You will need to appear in Court for the arraignment on the charges. At that time you have the option of applying for a public defender, hiring your attorney or representing yourself. I would not recommend the latter option. You may ultimately be able to keep this off of your record via a stay of adjudication or a continuance for dismissal.