[haledor]

A month ago I was accused of stealing $2700 from my employer. A corporate investigator came in at the beginning of my shift and poked and prodded at me for 2 hours. For the first hour I completely denied everything, as it was not true. She then told me if I did not sign a confession letter I would be terminated immediately and charges would be pressed. I was freaked out, thinking about how I would lose my job, my family, my life. She told me if I signed the letter I could keep my job. Reluctantly I signed a confession letter, and guess what? They fired me on the spot, had the cops come to my work and arrested me. Now I'm facing court on October 20th to make my plea.

I have spoke with my boss, who is also a friend, and he said they have no evidence other than my confession letter that could lead to a conviction.

When I go to court, I planned on pleading not guilty and telling the judge exactly what I put in my first paragraph.

My question is, can they convict me solely on that signed confession? Do I have a case?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[excon]

Hello haledor:

With a good lawyer, I'd make the odds 3 to 1 against you.

The arguments you came up with are lame. The court ain't going to buy it. Confessions are a pretty good indication of guilt.

You DO have a shot (a long one, in my view) at having the confession thrown out, if you can get the investigator declared to be an agent of the police. If so, she would have been required to give you Constitutional warnings about your rights to remain silent, and your rights to an attorney BEFORE you were questioned. I'm sure she didn't do any of that.

You only have those rights when it's the COPS who are interrogating you. You have no such rights when private investigators question you. --- unless it was their intention to prosecute you - and even then, I don't know.

Hire a lawyer, and don't talk to them again.

excon

[robc68fb]

Definitely talk a good attorney, if you were driven to make a false statement by threatening to fire you, & can prove it, that might go a long way in court. Will you friend stand up for you & say you were given an altimatum?

Don't EVER admit to something you did not do. Make them try & prove it, sometimes people want an easy out you know... If they get you to confess, they don't have to work so hard.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, first you think they were going to let you confess to stealing and you keep your job ?

Why did you not call your boss after about 30 min of questioning, why did you not merely refuse to answer any more questions and ask for an attorney, why did you not ask to be allowed to go back to work or sent home.

You don't confess if you are not guilty.

So if you can not get that confession thrown out, yes you will be convicted and go to jail.
You need a seriously good attorney, this will be a very hard case, You have to get that confessoin out. Now of course police and DA are allowed to lie to you to get a confession, but with this being a private company representitive, perhaps if you can get them to admit they said this ( bet they lie) you may agure there was a contract with them to let you work and not press charges.

And you don't tell the judge anything, you tell the jury if you use a jury, or the judge if you are not using a jury.

But you can't just tell them, you have to make a motion or do it when you testify.

You need an attorney

[twinkiedooter]

It will be almost next to impossible to get your signed confession thrown out at this point. Please seek the services of a very good criminal attorney. If you really didn't steal the money you could discuss with your attorney the possibility of taking a lie detector test. Yes, I know they are not admissible in court, but if you do pass it your attorney could present this to the DA and possibly work out something for you. I'm sorry you signed it under duress, but you did sign it. Please talk over your options with a good attorney.

[Eagle USA]

There was no reason for you to sign a confession letter if you are not guilty. By doing so you put yourself in jepordy and 99% conviction. We all make and learn from our mistakes. If this guy was such a friend he would no that you wouldn't steal and wouldn't put you through court. You should try to talk to him and make some kind of arrangements on a deal.

[Mskalu12]

My employer terminated me for theft of money. I was told if I was honest, a third party wouldn't be involved. I was able to leave without being arrested. Will I be arrested at a later time. My employer didn't mention pressing charges.



What should I do?

[excon]

What should i do?

Hello M:

Wait to see if you're charged.. If you are, hire a lawyer.

excon