5-10 for shoplifting $80?
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When Chastity Shirley shopped at Walmart’s Somerset, Kentucky, store one day in 2018, she pulled what retailers call a "switcheroo."
She switched the bar codes from a toothbrush holder with those from a more expensive children's rug and slipcover and checked herself out of the store.
She was caught red-handed by a loss-control associate who was watching her.
The cost difference between the item she paid for and the two she tried to take — $80.80.
But instead of charging her with misdemeanor theft — standard for shoplifting crimes of less than $500 — a Pulaski County prosecutor persuaded a grand jury to indict Shirley for "unlawful access to a computer."
The prosecution and Walmart contended that when Shirley misled the self-checkout scanners, she was tapping unlawfully into the sophisticated computer system connected to them.
The offense was a felony punishable by five to 10 years in prison.
A jury found Shirley guilty, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed her conviction, saying it would be "inherently unfair to convict somebody of a class C felony for theft of goods worth $80."
The appeals court also said the crime didn’t meet the statute’s definition — using a computer without its owner's "effective consent."
