A "switcheroo" is when a person pulls something from a store.
She checked herself out of the store after changing the bar codes from a toothbrush holder to a more expensive one.
She was caught red handed by a loss control associate.
The item she paid for was more expensive than the two she attempted to take.
A prosecutor persuaded a grand jury to indict her for "unlawful access to a computer", instead of charging her with a lesser crime.
Walmart and the prosecution contended that she was tapping into the sophisticated computer system connected to them when she lied to the self-checkout machines.
It was a felony with a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of a woman after she was found guilty by a jury.
The crime didn't meet the definition of using a computer without its owner's consent, according to the appeals court.
The appeals court reasoned that Walmart has the right to allow its customers to use its self-checkout machines.
On Wednesday, the Attorney General will ask the Kentucky Supreme Court to restore the conviction of a man who was sentenced to life in prison.
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A new vocabulary has been created to describe self-checkout theft.
The "banana trick" is when you ring up a T-bone steak at a lower price than the produce costs.
Pass around is the act of putting an expensive item in a basket without scanning it.
Shoppers are four times more likely to steal from a self-check terminal than a human cashier, according to a study.
Shadd Maruna, a professor of criminality at Queens University in Belfast, said in an email that most of us feel ashamed at being caught trying to steal. The process of removing human eyes and replacing them with technology seems less shameful.
Half of the people who said they stole at a self-checkout were because it was so hard to find them.
Shoppers feel justified because retailers are using the devices to eliminate jobs according to experts.
Some people convince themselves that they should get one or two items for free because they have to check out themselves.
One person wrote that anyone who pays for more than half of their stuff at a self-checkout is a total moron.
They have embraced the machines because they eliminate the cost of cashiers.
The devices are always on time and don't call in sick.
Newsweek says Walmart rings up more than half of its sales in the US.
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Walmart Media Relations didn't respond to a question about whether the company asked Kentucky prosecutors to charge shoplifters with the more serious crime of unlawful access to a computer
The Commonwealth's Attorney wouldn't say if the case was brought at Walmart's request.
Her public defender argued at her trial that the charge should have been dismissed because Walmart gave her permission to use its computer.
The argument was ridiculed by the judge.
He wondered if Walmart gave consent for someone to use a bar code to buy a toothbrush. I have looked at a.410-gauge squirrel shotgun if that is the case. Is it possible to put a toothbrush bar code on that?
When Tapp was appointed to the U.S. Court of Claims, former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Venters was assigned to the case.
He suspended her five-year sentence if she stayed out of trouble for 30 days.
She was going to have a felony conviction on her record for the rest of her life.
The Kentucky appeals court will decide if a shoplifter should be prosecuted for a computer crime.
In a brief for the commonwealth, the assistant solicitor general says that prosecutingShirley under that statute is absolutely appropriate.
He says Walmart does not consent to swap bar codes or use its computers to steal.
Even if the courts don't like the result, they have to follow the law.
A person is guilty of unlawful access to a computer if he or she does not get the owner's permission to do something.
Do you know your rights? Is it a good idea to Sue a fiancée? The courts in Kentucky say you have the right to do something.
If the Court of Appeals ruling stands, the circuit courts will have no choice but to find that retailers gave consent to misuse self-check machines.
The jury found that the prosecution had proven every element of the crime.
Steven Buck, the assistant public advocate, said in his brief that the office of the commonwealth's attorneys have "abandoned both common sense and empathy" in their pursuit of a felony conviction for a "petty theft" of a "paltry sum".
The prosecutor has a duty to do justice.
He said that common sense should not be a problem in the house of the law.
According to Buck, the prosecution is an extreme example of government overreach that will create a new class of felons that our prison system can't accommodate.
He said that Kentucky has laws in place that punish shoplifters.
He doesn't understand why the attorney general is using its discretionary powers.
Andrew Wolfson can be reached at awolfson@courier- Journal.com.
Shoppers do a lot of different things to cheat the self-check out.
A person swaps barcodes on items.
Lower cost fruit and vegetables can be scanned.
Placing an item in a bag is not a good idea.
The article was first published on the Louisville Courier Journal. Some AGs say yes.
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