A LAWYER has shared a key piece of advice for beating self-checkout shoplifting charges.

Criminal defense attorney James R. Snell often shares advice on his blog revealing what people should do when facing criminal charges.

The South Carolina-based lawyer wrote a post about the increasing number of shoplifting cases he has taken on against Walmart.

Many people are facing shoplifting charges due to errors during self-checkout such as forgetting to ring up all their purchases.

A large number of stores have turned to adding self-checkout lanes to cut down on labor costs.

However, the convenience of self-checkout can have unexpected consequences.

“Without a cashier or another employee to help it can be easy to overlook something, especially when you are busy with ringing, bagging, and trying to load everything,” Snell wrote.

“Typically what happens is someone is approached by store security shortly after completing their transaction,” Snell wrote.

“They may point out that only some of the items were scanned. At this point even if it was an honest mistake you can be charged with shoplifting.”

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Shoplifting is always viewed as a criminal offense, even if the accused is not arrested and is only given a ticket.

When the case goes to court, the accused may still face jail time or a permanent criminal record.

However, Snell found a loophole in shoplifting laws — the accused customer must have intended to steal the items.

There are many check-out errors that could result in a shoplifting charge, even if the customer is not guilty of stealing.

One example Snell gave is if someone puts a flat item like a greeting card in their shopping cart and then places their purse on top, forgetting to scan it while checking out.

Another example Snell mentioned is if someone buys groceries and an item fails to register on the machine. If the customer scanned it and heard a beep, they may think they did purchase the item and would not know otherwise until security stops them.

Snell also recommended getting copies of security footage from the store before a shoplifting case goes to court to show a customer’s innocent intentions.

“Even if you think the evidence is clear that you are guilty, there still can be options to help you avoid a conviction or jail sentence,” Snell insists.