Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies sometimes have their officers go “undercover” to obtain evidence to arrest and charge people they believe are engaged in criminal activity. Sometimes, they use non-law enforcement professionals as “confidential informants” (CIs) to obtain this evidence. People often agree to be CIs to help lessen or even avoid criminal charges they’re facing.
In both cases, the goal is to gain the trust (or use that trust if they already know them) of people so that they feel safe planning or even committing a criminal offense around them. If an undercover officer (or more likely a CI) steps over the line into encouraging criminal activity, this is known as “entrapment.”
What does it mean for a government agent to engage in entrapment?
Entrapment can be a valid defense for someone accused of a crime if they can show that they wouldn’t have engaged in illegal activity without the encouragement of the “government agent” (which can be either an undercover officer or even a civilian CI for purposes of a specific investigation). The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that an entrapment defense “is established where the criminal design originates with the officials of the government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order to prosecute.”
For example, if an undercover officer or CI simply asks someone to sell them drugs and they do, that’s not entrapment. However, if someone working for law enforcement begs, threatens or harasses someone to sell them drugs, so they eventually get them the drugs, that person could likely have an entrapment defense.
Why do agents step over the line into entrapment?
Entrapment can occur when an undercover officer is convinced that the person they’re targeting is a criminal or maybe just anxious to make an arrest. A CI may get into entrapment territory because they don’t have the training that officers do or because they want to prove their value to authorities so they can get the charges against them dropped or minimized.
Anyone who believes they were “induced” to commit a criminal offense they had no intention of committing may think they have a clear case of entrapment. However, law enforcement and prosecutors are likely to argue that they weren’t entrapped. Presenting an entrapment defense requires fully understanding the concept and the law around it. Having experienced legal guidance can be essential to a successful defense.
