Entrapment Criminal Attorney Los Angeles
Entrapment defense is most common in drug sales, pandering, prostitution cases, and on-line sting operations involving computer crimes and child pornography. This usually occurs when there is an undercover operation in order to arrest an individual suspected of committing a crime. The entrapment defense is based on the priciple that the law enforcement or a confidential informant acting in cooperation with the police may not entice or encourage the defendant to do a criminal act, and use his agreement as evidence against him later.
If you had no intention of committing the crime or not predisposed to do the act accused of, and the only reason you did the crime was because you were improperly induced to do so, then there is entrapment. To show a case of entrapment, your attorney whould have to present evidence that the police got you to agree to do the crime but you did not plan or intend to do it. For example, offering sexual favors, offering money, or other favors are inappropriate in order to get someone to do a crime.
Once a defendant raises a defense of entrapment in jury trial and presents sufficient evidence to that effect, then to challenge the defense of entrapment, the burden of proof shifts to the prosecution to show that you were predisposed to, or ready to, commit the crime.
If you were ready and willing to do the crime and the officer or informant merely asked you if you wanted to do it and you agreed, then there is no entrapment. If the officer or the informatnt did not in any way push you to act in a certain manner, there is no entrapment. That means, the officer or the informant were not unnecessarily aggressive and did not offer you incentives.
Entrapment usually occurs when the officer or the confidential informant promised the defendant a benefit or a reward to motivate the defendant to commit the crime when the defendant was not otherwise inclined to do so. The prosecution may attempt to show that you have prior convictions for same or similar crimes. Therefore, your predisposition to commit this type of crime was more likely. Whereas, a defendant with a clean record, proper job, family and children may argue that there was absolutely no way he intended to do the crime and but for the encouragement, the inducement and entrapment by the officers, he would not have committed the crime.
