State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Nebraska > Chapter28 > 28-511_01

28-511.01. Theft by shoplifting;penalty; photographic evidence.(1) A person commitsthe crime of theft by shoplifting when he or she, with the intent of appropriating goods or merchandise to hisor her own use without paying for the goods or merchandise or todeprive the owner of possession of such goods or merchandise or itsretail value, in whole or in part, does any of the following:(a) Conceals or takes possession of the goods or merchandiseof any store or retail establishment;(b) Alters the price tag or other price marking on goods ormerchandise of any store or retail establishment;(c) Transfers the goods or merchandise of any store or retailestablishment from one container to another;(d) Interchanges the label or price tag from one item of a good or of merchandise witha label or price tag for another item of agood or of merchandise;(e) Causes the cash register or other sales recording deviceto reflect less than the retail price of the goods or merchandise; or(f) Alters,bypasses, disables, shields, or removes any security or alarm device attachedto or housing any goods or merchandise of any store, including the use orpossession of a security device countermeasure as defined in section 28-511.03,prior to purchase of the goods or merchandise.(2)In any prosecution for theft by shoplifting, photographs of the shopliftedproperty may be accepted as prima facie evidence as to the identity of theproperty. Such photograph shall be accompanied by a written statement containingthe following:(a) A description of the property;(b) The name of the owner or owners of the property;(c) The time, date, and location where the shoplifting occurred;(d) The time and date the photograph was taken;(e) The name of the photographer; and(f) Verification by the arresting officer.The purpose of this subsection is to allow the owner or ownersof shoplifted property the use of such property during pending criminal prosecutions.Prior to allowing the use of the shoplifted property as providedin this section, legal counsel for the alleged shoplifter shall have a reasonableopportunity to inspect and appraise the property and may file a motion forretention of the property, which motion shall be granted if there is any reasonablebasis for believing that the photographs and accompanying affidavit may bemisleading. SourceLaws 1982, LB 126, § 4; Laws 2010, LB894, § 2.Effective Date: July 15, 2010AnnotationsThis section does not apply equally to lawful and unlawful conduct, and in that context is not unconstitutional. State v. Sexton, 240 Neb. 466, 482 N.W.2d 567 (1992).Where a defendant was convicted by a jury of shoplifting merchandise valued at $787 and the only evidence of value was the price at which the merchandise was offered for sale, such evidence was insufficient to prove value. State v. Ybarra, 9 Neb. App. 230, 609 N.W.2d 696 (2000).