Abolishes all affirmative defenses if they do not fall under statute, and codifies entrapment as an affirmative defense. In 1978 the Legislature created a code which abolished all common law defenses. Since that time litigation has occurred to decide on a case by case basis which affirmative defenses still exist. The decisions that have come out of this process vary from county to county. This bill seeks to create uniformity within the state regarding which affirmative defenses exist and which do not.
All counties currently agree that entrapment is a valid affirmative defense.
Because all affirmative defenses that do not fall under statute are abolished in this bill, entrapment is codified. The definition of entrapment is derived from the definition used in case law. Legislative Council reports that the common law affirmative defenses of alibi and ignorance of mistake of facts would be abolished by this bill. Abolishes all affirmative defenses that are not defined in statute or some other ordinance. The idea of committing the offense came from law enforcement officers rather than the individual.