retail theft punishment?

Good afternoon,

I had an incident in a super market where I had mistakenly put something in my pocket while answering my phone and forgot to pay for it and got caught shoplifting. It was a $2 powerbar. I was issued a misdemeanor write up from a cop in the store and have a court date in 2 weeks. I don't plan on getting an attorney as it seems like a trivial offense. My main concern is about having this expunged from my record. I don't want to drag this out and plead not guilty (since there is video evidence I was guilty, even if by accident) so is my best bet to plead guilty and try to get the judge to just dismiss it as an infraction? Or should I propose some sort of community service to get this expunged? Thanks for your help!

It is not trivial.

Hire a lawyer and arrange to keep that off your record or you will have job issues etc for the next 20 years...

I would not take this lightly--the judge will often not take it lightly.

Much easier for the lawyer to make sure this does not somehow stay on your record.

I have been arrested twice for retail theft once in 1999 and the most recent one jan of 2008 I am scheduled to got court on mar 13. What am i facing, I have a ggod job, starting going to support group for people that steal.