Did the Police Encourage You to Commit a Crime?
There are many ways that an experienced criminal defense attorney can help defend you against a crime that you have been wrongly charged with. One of these is called the entrapment defense. Entrapment is a method sometimes used by police officers, normally undercover, to try and get a criminal conviction by helping someone commit a crime. The help may come in the form of suggesting committing the crime, or providing resources or know how to commit the crime, in addition to other resources.
Entrapment, if it can be proved to have occurred, is not permitted in Florida. If entrapment is successfully shown to have resulted in a crime that the defendant is facing charges for, the charge can be dismissed in court.
Using the entrapment defense does not mean that a crime was not committed, but that it wouldn’t have been committed if it wasn’t for the actions of a law enforcement officer or someone directly working for or with a law enforcement officer.
Two types of entrapment
There are two different types of entrapment – subjective and objective.
Subjective entrapment is a type of entrapment in which the defendant can prove that s/he had no intention of committing a crime, but was induced into doing so by the suggestions and actions of a police officer(s). To defend someone who believes that s/he has been entrapped in this way, the defense attorney must be able to show beyond any reasonable doubt that subjective entrapment did actually occur. If this can be established, the prosecution must then be able to show for a conviction that the defendant was already predisposed to carry out the crime and therefore any actions by police or their assistants would not have had any effect on the main outcome. As with the defendant, the prosecution must show beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was predisposed to carry out the crime.
Objective entrapment is demonstrated when it can be shown that law enforcement agencies have controlled the carrying out of a crime so much that it clearly would not have been carried out without that level of organization. The difference between subjective and objective entrapment is one of degree rather than total difference. With objective entrapment, police officers may suggest a crime, teach the defendant how to carry out a crime and provide the defendant with the tools, equipment and opportunity, whatever they are, to actually carry out the crime.
To repeat what has been said beforehand, either type of entrapment may be proved to have occurred but it doesn’t mean that a crime didn’t actually take place. It’s just that under Florida Law, any crime that has been carried out by entrapment is not admissible in court and will return a “Not Guilty” verdict.
Proving that entrapment took place is not necessarily an easy task. Once a defendant has claimed that he / she carried out a crime because of entrapment, it invites prosecutors to use previous actions of the defendant to build their case that the defendant was not a normally law-abiding person and indeed was ‘predisposed’ to carry out the crime.
If you have been charged with any type of criminal offense, and you believe that undercover police officers persuaded you to carry out the crime, you should not hesitate, but call Miami based criminal defense attorney, Albert Quirantes Esq. as soon as possible. He will do his utmost to ensure that you get the defense you deserve. You should call the Albert Quirantes Law Firm at 305-644-1800.
Albert Quirantes: Your Miami Criminal Defense Lawyer & DUI Lawyer
For over 30 years, Miami criminal defense attorney Albert M. Quirantes has been aggressively and zealously defending the rights of those accused of felony and misdemeanor crimesthroughout South Florida. With his dedicated team, reasonable legal fees, and a well-earned reputation for challenging prosecutors at every turn, he has protected over 8,000 clients during some of the roughest times of their lives.
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If you have been arrested and charged with a crime, please call us today at (305) 644-1800 or fill out our online form to arrange for your free, confidential initial consultation.
If you have any questions about this or any other criminal accusation, call Miami Criminal Defense Lawyer Albert Quirantes at: (305) 644-1800 or visit our homepage www.CriminalDefendant.com for a direct link to the office or a text message or a map and directions to our office.
