Opinion ID: 1676101
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Elimination of the Cruz Test for Entrapment

Text: Although the legislature may not enact a statute limiting the application of a constitutional right, it may overrule judicially established substantive principles that do not implicate established constitutional rights. Thus, to the extent the objective test for the entrapment defense adopted by this Court in Cruz was not based on due process, the legislature had the authority to overrule that judicially established standard and to establish entrapment as a defense to be evaluated under the subjective test. As we indicated in the Florida cases outlined above, it is the focus on the behavior of law enforcement officials rather than the objective test itself that implicates due process considerations. Consequently, the legislature had the authority to overrule the judicially established objective test set forth in Cruz to the extent that such objective test did not include due process concerns. As such, we find that the specific test set forth in Cruz has been eliminated by section 777.201. Additionally, we find that the subjective test set forth in section 777.201 is the test to be applied on the issue of entrapment in the absence of egregious law enforcement conduct. As noted above, however, in the presence of egregious law enforcement conduct, an entrapment defense is to be evaluated under the due process provision of article I, section 9, of the Florida Constitution as in Glosson and Williams.