Hayashi Pleads No Contest To Misdemeanor, Gets Probation For Shoplifting

Bay City News -- A state assemblywoman accused of shoplifting at a Neiman Marcus store in San Francisco's Union Square pleaded no contest Friday to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to three years probation.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, after her arrest on Oct. 25 at the store at 150 Stockton St. and was released on $15,000 bail.

A security guard had stopped Hayashi with items worth $2,445 that she hadn't paid for, according to prosecutors.

Hayashi, 45, appeared in court this afternoon and changed her plea after the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. She was sentenced to three years of court probation and ordered to stay 50 feet away from the Neiman Marcus.

She was also ordered to pay $180 in fines and fees. Hayashi's defense attorney Douglas Rappaport said outside of court that the assemblywoman has a benign brain tumor that may have impacted her decision-making abilities.

Rappaport said the tumor is curable and treatable and "is no longer affecting her concentration or her judgment." The information about the tumor was "recently" presented to prosecutors, he said.