Opinion ID: 337795
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Involvement of Law Enforcement Agents

Text: 4 Smith next contends that the government informant's involvement in the crime itself was conduct so shocking as to bar prosecution on due process grounds. In United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 432, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 1643, 36 L.Ed.2d 366, 373 (1973), the Court suggested that involvement of government agents in a crime might bar prosecution if the methods used violate a fundamental fairness, shocking to the universal sense of justice. As we stated in United States v. Lue, 498 F.2d 531 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1031, 95 S.Ct. 513, 42 L.Ed.2d 306 (1974), this is not an entrapment defense and does not involve the subjective issue of predisposition. This defense is founded on due process and is reserved for the extreme case where the government's activity is outrageous or grossly shocking. Id. at 533-34. 5 In determining the due process question before us, the government's activity must be viewed in light of the limited range of law enforcement techniques available for investigating drug manufacturing enterprises. Russell highlighted this problem and expressly approved infiltration of and limited participation in unlawful drug-related enterprises as proper investigatory strategies which ordinarily do not violate due process. 411 U.S. at 432, 93 S.Ct. at 1643, 36 L.Ed.2d at 373. 6 But Smith contends that here a different result should obtain. He first points to the preparatory aid the government informant supplied. The informant was argued to have provided 100 grams of mercuric chloride (which is readily available on the open market), some glass tubing and $750, and, on one occasion, to have helped in transporting some phenyl-2-propanone. This conduct clearly falls within the infiltration activities allowed by Russell and Lue. 7 Smith also alleges that fundamental fairness was violated when the government employed a pharmacist and longtime friend of Smith's as an informant to betray him. The basis of Smith's contention seems to be that the choice of informant was too good. The argument is frivolous. 8 Smith further contends that the government was improperly involved in having the informer participate in manufacturing the illegal drugs. However, participation in the manufacturing process does not in and of itself equal outrageous conduct. In Russell, the informer had aided in the production of methamphetamine on one occasion, although the Court noted that he did not otherwise participate in the manufacture of the drug or direct any of the work. 411 U.S. at 426 n. 3, 93 S.Ct. at 1640, 36 L.Ed.2d at 370 (emphasis added). While the informant here participated in setting up and operating the laboratory in the motor home with Smith over a time period longer than that involved in Russell, the informant acted at the direction of Smith. The formula followed in the production of the drug was obtained by Smith. Under the initial agreement, Smith was to be responsible for manufacturing the drug and the informant's only role was to take charge in pressing tablets containing methamphetamine. This conduct is similar to that involved in Russell and does not constitute a due process violation. 9 Smith cites the two-week delay between the initial manufacture of approximately one ounce of the drug and the subsequent production of about 550 pounds of the chemical as evidence of governmental conduct which shocks the conscience. This argument falls wide of the mark. It is sound law enforcement practice for the Drug Enforcement Administration to cast its net as far as possible in order to gather evidence on drug violators associated with Smith, as well as to cement its case against him. In Russell, there was a month delay between the government's purchase of the illegal drug and the arrest, with a significant amount of the drug left in Russell's possession for potential distribution. 411 U.S. at 426, 93 S.Ct. at 1640, 36 L.Ed.2d at 370. Here there was no danger of distribution at all because the informant turned over all the methamphetamine which Smith produced to the DEA, on the pretext of putting it in a safety deposit box. Thus, the DEA took practical steps to prevent the drug from being dispersed into the channels of commerce and endangering the public while it continued its investigation of Smith's admittedly numerous trafficking associates. One day after Smith had told the informant that he was going to shut down the laboratory, a search warrant was executed and Smith was arrested. Such efficient practices are to be preferred rather than condemned. Cf. Whitted v. United States, 411 F.2d 107, 109 (9th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 399 U.S. 911, 90 S.Ct. 2204, 26 L.Ed.2d 565 (1970). 10 Whether we consider the informant's acts singularly or as a whole, (t)he law enforcement conduct here stops far short of violating that 'fundamental fairness, shocking to the universal sense of justice,' mandated by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. United States v. Russell, supra, 411 U.S. at 432, 93 S.Ct. at 1643, 36 L.Ed.2d at 373.