Entrapment occurs when law enforcement officers conspire to lure someone into a situation where they are essentially forced or convinced to commit a crime, and then that person is arrested for the offense they otherwise would never have committed. Take a look at some common entrapment strategies and what defendants can do to get help.

Common Entrapment Schemes

There are many different strategies police can use to entrap someone, including honey traps, sting operations, and baiting. Baiting is when the police leave drugs or other illegal contraband in plain sight, hoping that someone will take the bait and commit a crime. For example, an officer might leave a backpack full of marijuana in a park, hoping that someone will steal it so that they can be arrested for theft.

Or, if an undercover officer tells a potential buyer of illegal drugs that he will kill her if she does not buy drugs from him or offers someone a large sum of money to commit a robbery, this could be considered inducement.

How to Prove Entrapment

To successfully prove entrapment, the defense must show that the police engaged in improper or overbearing conduct which convinced an otherwise law-abiding person to engage in criminal activity. This can be a difficult task since it requires the defendant to provide evidence of both their innocence and the police’s misconduct.

Additionally, courts will often consider whether the defendant was predisposed to committing the crime before the police became involved, or if the defendant was at first unwilling to engage in the crime. If the defendant has no criminal history and/or if they initially resisted committing the crime, an entrapment defense is more likely to succeed.

Types Of Evidence In An Entrapment Case

There are a few different types of evidence you can use when bringing an entrapment case to court. Direct evidence is direct proof of the government’s inducement, such as an audio recording of the government agent telling the defendant to commit the crime.

Circumstantial evidence, on the other hand, is indirect proof that can be used to infer that the government induced the defendant to commit the crime. This type of evidence includes things like emails between the government agent and the defendant leading up to the crime, or text messages in which the government agent asks the defendant when he or she will be available to commit the crime.

Contact Okaloosa County, Florida criminal defense lawyer T. Martin Knopes now for a consultation at 850-683-0700.