More than 40 people have written letters on behalf of a Hamilton County school board member facing prosecution on a shoplifting charge, but Janice Boydston’s defense attorney has chosen not to file them publicly.

“I just figured that these people wrote personal letters to the judge and did not expect them to be made available to the public,” attorney Sam Robinson, who’s representing Ms. Boydston, said Wednesday. “These are people who are and are not community leaders who support Janice Boydston’s innocence in this case.”

Mr. Robinson said he would not disclose the names of any of the letter writers.

Ms. Boydston is charged with one count of misdemeanor theft under $500, stemming from her arrest last summer for allegedly shoplifting about $32 worth of items from the Lookout Valley Wal-Mart.

The letters accompany her application, filed Wednesday, for an alternative form of sentencing. She is asking for “pretrial diversion” in the case and, if Hamilton County Judge Rebecca Stern grants it, the veteran school board member will not have to admit any guilt in the incident.

Any evidence of Ms. Boydston’s prosecution also will be expunged from her record after one year, meaning that background checks never will show it.

But there “have to be consequences” in the case, according to Hamilton County District Attorney Bill Hall.

Mr. Hall said in April that the only resolution he was considering at the time was “guilty diversion,” which is similar to pretrial diversion but requires a defendant to admit guilt.

Mr. Hall could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

It is possible that Judge Stern could agree with Mr. Hall’s opinion, meaning that Ms. Boydston eventually will stand trial for the misdemeanor crime — a crime that usually involves no jail time and typically is resolved without a jury.

“Ms. Boydston does not plan on admitting guilt now or ever,” Mr. Robinson said in April. “She maintains her innocence.”

The allegedly stolen items included a cosmetics case, a scented candle and a package of shoe inserts, according to testimony at a preliminary court hearing last fall. A Wal-Mart employee testified that she saw Ms. Boydston deliberately put the items in her purse.

Ms. Boydston has pointed out that she paid for about $85 worth of groceries during the same shopping trip.