to be or not be entrapped, that is the Q...

[sureshot]

What is the name of your state? CA

Hello all-

so recently i have gotten tired of the dating scene and am a decent 'nice' guy who has a corpoarate job and couldnt possibly explain getting busted with a female cop acting as an, er, um...how shall i say- friendly woman who likes being paid to be friendly?

I have read enough to know that by just asking "are you a cop" is no good, but is the answer "go to the bunny ranch" or is there any (i hate to ask) legal way to find out if you are going to possibly do something illegal?

boy that sounded funny, huh?

 

[racer72]

This site is for giving legal advice, not on ways to skirt the law. If your worried about getting busted for soliciting a hooker, don't do it is the easiest prevention to being arrested.

 

[cepe10]

it is a good question on the entrapment.

entrapment is met when the LEO induces a crime to be committed.

"if the police use baits or persuasion to induce a law abiding citizen to commit a crime, this is considered entrapment. For example, police cannot "proposition" a person on a street corner to illicit a sexual offer. However, they can drive around the street and wait to be "propositioned." The entrapment restrictions are intended to prevent police from "creating criminals." People may be "trapped" into revealing criminal actions but not "entrapped" into committing them."

I see in SC there are baiting motorists to speed by driving very slowly in the fast lane until someone in the line of cars decides to try to get around the blockage.. and then they get pulled over.

the narcs seem to operate in the same fashion.

 

[CdwJava]

"Entrapment ...

From www.lectlaw.com:

ENTRAPMENT - A person is 'entrapped' when he is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime that he had no previous intent to commit; and the law as a matter of policy forbids conviction in such a case.

However, there is no entrapment where a person is ready and willing to break the law and the Government agents merely provide what appears to be a favorable opportunity for the person to commit the crime. For example, it is not entrapment for a Government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informer or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person. So, a person would not be a victim of entrapment if the person was ready, willing and able to commit the crime charged in the indictment whenever opportunity was afforded, and that Government officers or their agents did no more than offer an opportunity.

On the other hand, if the evidence leaves a reasonable doubt whether the person had any intent to commit the crime except for inducement or persuasion on the part of some Government officer or agent, then the person is not guilty.

In slightly different words: Even though someone may have [sold drugs], as charged by the government, if it was the result of entrapment then he is not guilty. Government agents entrapped him if three things occurred:

- First, the idea for committing the crime came from the government agents and not from the person accused of the crime.

- Second, the government agents then persuaded or talked the person into committing the crime. Simply giving him the opportunity to commit the crime is not the same as persuading him to commit the crime.

- And third, the person was not ready and willing to commit the crime before the government agents spoke with him.

On the issue of entrapment the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not entrapped by government agents.

And, from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

entrapment n. in criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents to induce or encourage a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal." Entrapment, if proved, is a defense to a criminal prosecution. The accused often claims entrapment in so-called "stings" in which undercover agents buy or sell narcotics, prostitutes' services, or arrange to purchase goods believed to be stolen. The factual question is: Would Johnny Begood have purchased the drugs if not pressed by the narc?

- Carl