Hamilton County Board of Education member Janice Boydston has filed documentation with the district attorney’s office hoping to convince authorities to halt the prosecution of a shoplifting case against her.
Her confidential application for pre-trial diversion, if granted, would allow Ms. Boydston to avoid admitting guilt for an incident last summer at the Lookout Valley Wal-Mart. She put about $32 worth of items in her purse without paying for them, according to enforcement personnel.
If she is granted pre-trial diversion under state law and remains on good behavior for one year, prosecutors would drop the case and expunge the misdemeanor theft charge from records.
A hearing is scheduled for April 8.
Hamilton County Assistant District Attorney Bill Hall said he has not determined whether the veteran school board member qualifies for pre-trial diversion. Eligibility involves factors such as the defendant’s criminal background and the facts of the case.
At a preliminary hearing last fall, a Wal-Mart employee testified she saw Ms. Boydston take the items.
Defense attorney Thomas Crutchfield said Tuesday that they’ll go to trial if the district attorney’s office offers only “guilty” diversion.
“Guilty” diversion — officially known as “judicial” diversion — is similar to pre-trial diversion but requires a defendant to admit guilt.
“Ms. Boydston has told us in no uncertain terms that she will never, ever plead guilty,” Mr. Crutchfield said.
Ms. Boydston defended herself after the incident, saying that the items must have accidentally fallen into her purse.
She has declined to comment on the case since then, but at the time said that it was “stupid of me to have put my purse into the buggy, stupid of me for the purse to be open, but there was no intent.”
She pointed out that she paid for about $85 worth of groceries during the same shopping trip.
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