If there is justice she'll only be convicted if she's actually guilty.

Haha, "The Twinkie Defense" crossed my mind also. But that was more plausible. lol

Oh come on now Linda. If we all used this same lame excuse all merchants would be out of business in no time. That is a bogus excuse.

I walked out of Safeway the other day with some groceries in my hand that I didn't pay for. When I reached my car I realized I had walked straight out rather than go to the cashier. I turned right around and went to the cashier.

So yes, it's possible to get distracted and walk out . . . and I frequently put items into my bag in order to make carrying them to the cashier easier.

The only difference between you and Mary is she was stupid enough to get caught. lol. If you had got popped, do you think they would buy that excuse? Perhaps, depends on what it was. I too, often bring my bags in and put things in them to free my hands. I see workers eying me sometimes. lol. But, it's not shoplifting until you leave the store without paying.

Mia, did the Security folks come out in the parking lot to ask you to return to the office to pay for the $2,500 worth of their product that you forgot to pay for? Did you go in to the store with the empty shopping bag, select the product and go in to the bathroom and then wander around and then exit without paying for your purchases?

This kind of reasoning is why the camera evidence and first hand testimony by the security folks is so critical. People who steal, like Mary, are just as evil as those who break in to cars and houses and rob from liquor stores.

The difference is that Mary and her husband the judge are real close to the 1% and are subverting all you reasonable people out there. Make no mistake, this is as real a crime as there can be, Premeditated Felony Grand Theft.

Totally agree with Gayle - you don't put unpaid mdse into your shopping bag???

I'm a believer of the goodness in people. I'm not trying to defend Mrs. Hayashi, but I refuse to accuse her. I have been in such stressed out state of mind that I HAVE put things in my purse or pockets, or hung them on my neck because my son or my mom keeps calling me or texting me while I'm shopping, I HAVE accidentally walked out or almost walked out with unpaid articles countless times...I'm just saying, this COULD happen...

I definitely think it /could/ happen. And exactly because it /could/ happen, and because "intent" *is* a necessary element of the crime of larceny (if you didn't intend to steal, you have not committed a crime no matter what you've done), stores are very careful about whom they stop for shoplifting. For what I've been able to research online, it seems that Neiman Marcus' policy on stopping shoplifters is pretty strong. First, a trained loss prevention officer must witness with his/her own eyes the suspect taking and hiding the merchandize. Usually this happens when the suspect is acting suspiciously and an employee notifies loss prevention about it. Then, the loss prevention officer must be able to keep an uninterrupted watch over the suspect, and witness them leaving the store, while passing by the cashiers, with the unpaid merchandize. Moreover, this needs to be caught on camera. Eventually, the DA will have to release the video of this incident, and I guess we'll all be able to judge by ourselves what is most likely to have happened.

As it is, according to the DA Mary entered the store with an empty shopping bag, selected the items of clothing, went into a dressing room, put those items in the shopping bag, and left the dressing room. Some time later she left the store without paying for those items.

Alexa, you walked in with an empty shopping bag, in to the fitting room, filled the bag with $2,500 worth of clothes and then forgot about it. This could happen. Pigs could fly.

Thomas, I guess my other post didn't "patch"...I also said something else after reading the facts that she had walked in with an empty bag..what I said was how disappointed I was on her and that I hoped that justice is done and she doesn't get special treatment..sad to say this because I really thought good of her, but I hope the system is just.

Marga, of course you want to portray her as needing help. What sort of an example does she set for Koreans, Assemblywomen and Democrats. Your support for her is understandable, she enjoyed your support and that of the Alameda Democratic Committee. She has been bought and paid for by the Healthcare and Medical Industry. Let us all feel sorry for her one mistake. Right. She started off with this first theft.

If you believe that you will believe that justice will happen to a wealthy politician who is completely entrenched in the system. Not gonna happen. She will get off.

Thomas, I don't know why you think that I'm defending Mary. I think I've made it pretty clear that I don't think she's likely to have walked out with these items by mistake. But if she did go to NM with the intent to shoplift, then I'm curious enough to wonder why. It could be an issue of her feeling entitled and not having the best of ethics. Or it could be a deeper psychological issue. If it's the latter, I hope she faces up to it and gets some help. Indeed, politically that might have been the best thing for her to do. Too bad her lawyer went around saying she'd just "forgotten", clearly most people don't buy that.

Marga,
If you look at her record as an assemblywoman you will get a taste of her ethics. She is in big with the AMA/CMA and pushes their agenda all the way. Her tactics are aggressive to the point of bullying other assembly persons. I do not know if it was a sense of entitlement that caused her to do what she did but I don't think she does anything on accident. She is a very calculated and shrewd politician. Period.

She is, but I look at that picture and I don't know what to make of it. I see Mary as a fighter, and she looks so defeated in that picture that it makes me feel that she's either really, really guilty, or, perhaps more likely, deeply depressed. You can be cunning and also suffer from depression.

Tracy, the word is unkempt and yes they would have noticed her when she came in. The trick is that Neiman's security department saw her come in with the empty shopping bag. They noticed that she had not brought back something for a return. They saw her select clothing, go in to the fitting room and come out with a full shopping bag. She wandered around for a while and left.

She entered with intent to steal, the shopping bag. She left without providing Neiman Marcus with payment for the merchandise. She is a perfect example of felony burglary, the bag makes it burglary. The amount makes it a felony. This is not larceny.

She looks unkempt to me. Her husband the judge will get to decide if he wants to keep her as a kept woman or whether he wants to let the judicial system play whack a mole with her.

If it were just some mom & pop store, perhaps they wouldn't have noticed. But we are talking about Nieman Marcus. I have some experience with loss prevention, and these big department stores take it very seriously. Mostly, they hire ex-shoplifters as consultants to guide them. I see a new job in Mary's future. lol

Michael, the good news is that if she is found guilty of the felony for which she is charged, she will be removed from the Assembly, lose her right to vote as well as her right to buy a firearm.

As to the honesty and trustworthiness of our elected representatives, I would not want to commit too much to their inherent cleanliness. After a term in office as near as I can tell most of our elected representatives spend their careers seeking more and more money and becoming less and less our representatives. In Mary's case the health lobby bought and paid for her.

Honesty and trustworthiness are not hallmarks of elected representatives. The entrenched Democrats are not much better than the Republicans. Our two Senators are a joke: One has used insider trading loopholes to featherbed her position and the other let the treasurer of the Democratic Party embezzle 5 million dollars.

The best action possible will be for voters to vote the incumbents out.

Gerald, the intent has to do with the empty shopping bag. Neiman's has been remarkably free from allegations of profiling by age, sex, appearance. They have a very good security record on shoplifting arrests. That being said, money, influence, judicial intervention and political debt payment will likely get her off or at the least a simple fine, no felony, or even complete exoneration.

Would their noticing she was Korean make it more or less likely that they'd stop her? And would anyone be able to notice she's Korean as opposed to Asian in general? I think I'm pretty good at identifying what country in Asia someone is from, but I think Mary could easily pass for Japanese. Are either Koreans or Japanese more likely to shoplift than other ethnic groups?

Norma, of course she stole the merchandise. She removed it from the premises, concealed it from identification, and deprived the store of just compensation. Her actions were premeditated, based on having brought from outside the store the empty shopping bag.

If she is an honorable person she will resign her position and offer public assistance and subject herself to some behavior modification. But then honor among politicians is rare indeed.