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Can you use entrapment as a defense?

On Behalf of | Apr 30, 2021 | Criminal Defense

If you are accused of a DUI or other crime, one of the factors you may want to look into is if you’ve been entrapped. Entrapment is not legal, and showing that it occurred could be a good way to have your case dropped.

Entrapment is a defense that you can use to defend yourself against criminal charges. With this claim, you are stating that the law enforcement officers used overbearing or coercive tactics to make you commit a crime.

According to the Department of Justice, government agents may not “originate a criminal design” or cause an innocent person to get the idea to commit a crime because of the agent’s actions. Inducing a crime in this way with the intention to prosecute the individual is illegal and may be used as a complete defense against the charges.

What do you need to prove to use an entrapment defense?

To use an entrapment defense, you need to show that you were induced to commit a crime. What that means is that the agents in question must coerce or persuade someone to commit a crime when they wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, if an officer approaches a random person in the bar and asks if they want drugs, that person has an opportunity to turn them down or even to report the crime. At that point, if the officer were to press further, potentially even going as far as to threaten the individual to take the drugs, then that might be entrapment.

The prosecution will attempt to show that a defendant was already a criminal looking for an opportunity to commit a crime rather than an innocent who was unwary of the situation. This is something your attorney will help protect against by showing that you were blindsided by the police officer’s actions and that you were coerced with no intention otherwise to commit a crime.

Entrapment is a serious problem, and it’s one that you need to defend against if it occurs. You should not have to face penalties for getting caught up in an officer’s bad behavior. If you can prove your case, then you may walk away without penalties.

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