Opinion ID: 574323
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Entrapment by Estoppel Instruction

Text: 55 Defendants argue that the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury as requested on the defense of entrapment by estoppel. A conviction cannot stand under the Due Process Clause where a citizen exercises a privilege or engages in conduct after a state official tells the defendant that the particular conduct is legal and the defendant believes the official. In Cox v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 559, 571, 85 S.Ct. 476, 484, 13 L.Ed.2d 487 (1965), the Court held that express and affirmative statements by police officials granting defendants permission to picket across the street from a courthouse required reversal of convictions for demonstrating near a courthouse. Similarly, in Raley v. Ohio, 360 U.S. 423, 438, 79 S.Ct. 1257, 1266, 3 L.Ed.2d 1344 (1959), convictions for contempt for failing to answer questions before a state commission were reversed where officials mistakenly instructed defendants of their right to exercise their privilege against self-incrimination contrary to a state law depriving them of the privilege. 56 Defendant Hurst contends that the requested entrapment by estoppel instruction was warranted by testimony that she relied on the actions of compliance personnel of the Tennessee Secretary of State's Office who were aware that the same people were working for her at bingo games for two different charitable organizations yet took no action regarding these apparent violations. Defendant Shutt relies on statements that he testified were made to him by David Collins, an acquaintance and attorney in the Secretary of State's Office, and Donnie Walker, chief compliance officer in the Secretary of State's Charitable Solicitations Division. Collins, who had authority in the area of elections, not bingo laws, apparently told Shutt that he could raise money for the Columbia Military Academy by starting a bingo hall. Walker, in response to questions from Shutt regarding the use of a charitable charter for the purpose of playing bingo, did not indicate that there was anything wrong with Shutt's receiving $800 for the use of the CSF charter and allegedly suggested that Shutt make up minutes of meetings required to show that the organization was genuine. Defendant Burnett also appears to rely on those same statements by Donnie Walker as the basis of an entrapment defense. 57 A defendant is entitled to an instruction as to any recognized defense for which there exists evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to find in the defendant's favor. Mathews v. United States, 485 U.S. 58, 63, 108 S.Ct. 883, 886, 99 L.Ed.2d 54 (1988). In this case, however, there is simply no evidence that the defendants were ever told by state officials that their actions were legal. Walker instructed Shutt on how to flout the law, not how to abide by it, and statements by Collins contained no indication that falsified documentation and personal profits were legal under Tennessee bingo laws. Similarly, compliance officers did not tell Hurst that employing nonmembers to work bingo halls in multiple locations was legal. Instead, they simply failed to enforce the law. If this court were to accept Hurst's contention that mere nonfeasance in law enforcement was tantamount to official approval of illegal acts and entrapment, there would be scarcely a speeding ticket not subject to due process challenge. 58 Moreover, the statements allegedly relied upon were made by state officials relating to state law, while the defendants were charged with violations of federal law. One of the purposes of section 1955 was to aid in the enforcement of state gambling laws where state enforcement was disabled by corruption of state officials. Farris, 624 F.2d at 892. Allowing a state official's alleged complicity in illegal activities to void the convictions here would violate the intent of Congress in enacting section 1955 and distort the clear due process doctrine set forth in Cox and Raley.