Should I settle for a Plea in Abeyance for a wrongfully accused retail theft (in the state of Utah)?

So about a month ago I was shopping with my sister in a supermarket (WAL MART) in Utah. As we were shopping for groceries and other items we stopped to look at soap. After looking at many different kinds of soap I had a brain fart and put the soap inside the front pocket of my sweatshirt. We purchased our items spending a total of $42.10. As we left the store we were stopped outside by the manager asking if I had anything I forgot to pay for. I told him no and showed him the bags, then he pointed to my pocket and a complete shock to my sister and I was the bar of soap. We apologized and laughed a little bit then he asked us to come inside. Instead of paying for the soap which was $1.07 he told us to come to the back were a lady told us to sit down. She said she had been following us on camera the entire time and had me stealing a bar of soap on video. She commanded me to sign some type of paper and said she has called the police. I refused to sign anything and waited for the cops to come. They gave me a ticket for a mistermeaner B retail theft. The cops seemed to believe me a little more than the super market employees. We have a family friend that is a very high profile defense lawyer. My worry is that this is too small of a case because when I talked to him he keep mentioning a plea in abeyance. Although he keep telling me not to worry about anything I have been. I have a clean record and am currently in my second year of grad school getting ready to apply to med school. I don't want any of this on my record. Even though I unintentionally stole something am I still responsible for a crime of retail theft? Also if I took a polygraph test could I somehow use this to prove my innocence? Should I tell the lawyer that I don't won't settle for a plea in abeyance or should I be grateful for this? I understand that it probably does look like I stole it on video but do people really steal a dollar item and then spend 40? I am sure people lie in court all the time but how will my case look to a judge? Thank you for you advice.