Opinion ID: 1992950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the entrapment defense

Text: The overall purpose of the entrapment defense is to deter the corruptive use of governmental authority by invalidating convictions that result from law enforcement efforts that have as their effect the instigation or manufacture of a new crime by one who would not otherwise have been so disposed. People v D'Angelo, 401 Mich 167, 174; 257 NW2d 655 (1977); People v Turner, 390 Mich 7, 16; 210 NW2d 336 (1973); People v Sinclair, 387 Mich 91, 116-120; 194 NW2d 878 (1972). In Michigan entrapment is not a defense that negates an essential element of the charged crime. Instead, it presents facts that are collateral to the crime that justify barring the defendant's prosecution. D'Angelo, 401 Mich 179. We previously defined Michigan's entrapment defense: [W]hen the agents' involvement in criminal activities goes beyond the mere offering of such an opportunity, and when their conduct is of a kind that could induce or instigate the commission of a crime by one not ready and willing to commit it, then  regardless of the character or propensities of the particular person induced  I think entrapment has occurred. For in that situation, the Government has engaged in the impermissible manufacturing of crime .... [ Turner, 390 Mich 21 (citing United States v Russell, 411 US 423, 445; 93 S Ct 1637; 36 L Ed 2d 366 [1973]) (Stewart, J., dissenting). Emphasis added.] However, when a defendant is only given the opportunity to commit a crime, or is given aid in furthering an already committed conspiracy so that the government can acquire evidence of that crime, the defendant cannot claim entrapment as a defense. People v Smith, 296 Mich 176, 182; 295 NW 605 (1941). In applying the entrapment defense, two tests have emerged across the country. Many states and the federal government use a subjective test, while Michigan and a minority of other states follow the objective test of entrapment. In Jamieson, supra, we analyzed both federal and Michigan law and determined that we would continue to follow the objective test, which focuses primarily on the investigative and evidence-gathering procedures used by the governmental agents, rather than the subjective test, which focuses on the defendant's pre-disposition or motivation to commit a new crime. Id. at 72. Under a proper approach, factors of both the subjective and objective tests can be considered and utilized to determine if entrapment occurred. Id. at 79. Both tests are concerned with the eradication of convictions that result more from law enforcement invention than from law enforcement detection. Id. at 78. The purpose of the entrapment test is to discourage police conduct that manufactures, induces, or instigates the commission of a crime, rather than simply detecting criminal behavior. Turner, supra at 20. We do not judge whether a particular scheme or plan used by the police was the best or most effective way to detect criminal behavior. Jamieson, supra at 82. If we were to decide whether certain types of police conduct were reprehensible because better or more effective ways or techniques to detect criminal behavior were available, we would simply be allowing judges and courts to vent their own personal thoughts and beliefs regarding police investigative practices. However, the objective entrapment test, as formulated in Jamieson, must instead determine whether the police conduct in question has as its probable and likely outcome the instigation rather than the detection of criminal activity. Id. at 77.
When we analyzed the objective test of entrapment in Jamieson, supra, we restated that, although the objective test is mainly concerned with the existence of reprehensible police conduct, consideration must be given to the willingness of the accused to commit the act weighed against how a normally law-abiding person would react in similar circumstances. Id. at 74 (emphasis added). We hinged our analysis in Jamieson on whether the police conduct in question would induce or cause a hypothetical person to engage in criminal activity. Id. at 74, 80. By taking into account the reactions of normally law-abiding citizens, we reaffirmed a belief that not all generally offensive police conduct will necessarily support a claim of entrapment. Id. at 76. [5] Our analysis using the normally law-abiding person is not, as was suggested by the dissent in Jamieson, a new approach to the entrapment test. Even the Court in Turner realized that when reviewing a situation to determine if the defendant was entrapped, a court must consider the defendant's situation and whether his conduct was induced by the police. See Turner, supra at 22-23. By applying the term normally law-abiding person, we were simply restating who could be considered a person not ready and willing to commit the crime with which he is charged. Under the Jamieson analysis, the court can review the circumstances of the defendant to determine whether the police conduct would induce a similarly situated person, with an otherwise law-abiding disposition, to commit the charged crime. The circumstances of the particular defendant may be considered by the trial court in analyzing the ready and willing component of the objective entrapment test, as we stated in Jamieson. We conclude that the furnishing of contraband by the government is insufficient to induce or instigate the commission of a crime by the average person, similarly situated to these defendants, who is not ready and willing to commit it. We also note that this is not a case where the government's furnishing of narcotics was for the purpose of trying to escalate the criminal culpability of defendants. [ Id. at 89-90. Emphasis added.] The trial court is entitled to consider the circumstances in which the defendant was situated in relation to the particular criminal charge brought by the prosecution. The court shall consider the effects of the police conduct upon a normally law-abiding person in the circumstances presented to the defendant, including potential vulnerability. On the record before us, the case simply cannot be made that this sixteen-year-old inmate preyed upon the weaknesses of his captors to the extent that they would be induced beyond a readiness to make contact with an alleged drug supplier outside the jail and to transport drugs inside the jail to such an inmate. [ Id. at 85-86. Emphasis added.] The targets were not unwary or vulnerable. To the contrary, they were trained in law enforcement, sworn to uphold the law, and spent their working days in a most controlled environment in which they were in charge. The plan to uncover the reported source of drugs in the jail did not prey on human weakness (it is hoped that transporting drugs into a jail by correction officers is not seen as a normal human weakness ) or friendship or the use of authority to intimidate. [ Id. at 93. Emphasis added.] Therefore, we adhere to the belief that the individual defendant's circumstances are relevant in determining whether the police conduct rose to a reprehensible level. This test still bars evidence of the defendant's predisposition, such as prior convictions or activities not related to the circumstances involved in the current case. By applying the similar-circumstances test, a court can avoid dealing with hypothetical situations, trying to identify what a normal person is and what a normal person does. We therefore conclude that a test allowing evaluation of the defendant's circumstances, in light of an otherwise law-abiding disposition, is more in keeping with the purpose of the entrapment defense.
To determine whether the governmental activity would induce a normally law-abiding person in circumstances similar to the defendant's to engage in criminal activity, courts in Michigan and other objective test states have stated a number of types of conduct to consider in addition to the defendant's circumstances that would be found to have manufactured a crime. In Turner, supra, we indicated that the court could consider whether there existed any appeals to the defendant's sympathy as a friend, whether the defendant had been known to commit the crime with which he was charged, and whether there were any long time lapses between the investigation and the arrest. 390 Mich 22-23. A number of other factors exist which have been considered by various courts to determine if a person in circumstances similar to the defendant's would be entrapped. In addition to the factors indicated in Turner, the courts have also considered any inducements that would make the commission of a crime unusually attractive to a hypothetical law-abiding citizen, offers of excessive consideration or other enticement, and a guarantee that the acts alleged as crimes were not illegal. Jamieson, 436 Mich 73-74. Furthermore, the courts consider whether and to what extent any government pressure existed, the existence of sexual favors, whether there were any threats of arrest made by the governmental agents, and the existence of any government procedures that tend to escalate the criminal culpability of the defendant. Id. Finally, the courts have considered the police control over any informant, Jamieson, supra, whether the investigation is targeted or untargeted, People v Duis, 81 Mich App 698; 265 NW2d 794 (1978); see also State v Anders, 560 So 2d 288 (Fla App, 1990); Lusby v State, 507 So 2d 611, 612-613 (Fla App, 1987) (stating that entrapment may exist when an informant goes on a fishing expedition and has no reason to believe that a person has any contact with illegal drugs), and whether an informant or undercover officer was a necessary ingredient in the undercover operation. While this list is not intended to be exclusive, these items are some of the more important factors that courts have considered.