Court Opinion

ID: 9544133
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:52:18.034342+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:03.915702
License: Public Domain

McCLINTOCK, Justice
(concurring in the affirmance of the conviction).
The case was submitted to the jury upon the question whether a “predisposition” of defendant to commit the crime had been shown. I am not sure that the use of this word is fortunate but it is frequently found in the opinions and no objection thereto was made by either party. The dispute between those justices of this Court voting for affirmance and those who would reverse appears to me to center around the question whether the evidence sustains a finding that defendant was so predisposed. As I interpret our earlier opinion in this case,1 concurred in by me without comment, it holds that there was no evidence in the record to show such predisposition. I am not sure as to what then Justice McEwan’s view on the exact question was but I, at least, was of the view that there *280had to be evidence relating to acts of the defendant other than the particular act for which the prosecution was commenced. I have withdrawn from this position and voted for rehearing because I believe that predisposition to commit the crime — as distinguished from the exercise of improper influence upon a weak but basically innocent character — can be found by the jury from the facts and circumstances relating to the commission of the alleged criminal act.
I understand the earlier cases to hold that once the defendant has proved inducement the burden then rests with the State to prove a valid excuse therefor. However, I think the better analysis of the evi-dentiary burden is set forth in opinions of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In Kadis v. United States, 373 F.2d 370, 374 (5 Cir. 1967), after indicating that that court would no longer consider the question of inducement as a separate issue, the court says:
“ * * * Henceforth we will look, singly, at the ultimate question of entrapment. If the defendant shows, through government witnesses or otherwise, some indication that a government agent corrupted him, the burden of disproving entrapment will be on the government; but such a showing is not made simply by evidence of solicitation. There must be some evidence tending to show unreadiness. See United States v. Riley, supra, n. 4 [363 F.2d 955 (2 Cir. 1966) ].”
Applying this burden of proof to the facts of this case, I think that the record sustains the conclusion that there was more than mere solicitation. There was evidence of a threat by a show of force, namely, the display of a gun with the statement, as testified to by the witness Doing, “don’t mess around with Haystack.” The testimony of Laabs, however, was to the effect that he merely asked for the drug, the defendant said he would have to go out to get it, did go out, and returned some 25 to 30 minutes later with two quarter ounces of hashish which were then delivered to him upon payment.
To me this conduct is evidence of “ready compliance” as recognized by decisions going back to Judge Learned Hand’s statement in United States v. Becker, 62 F.2d 1007, 1008 (2 Cir. 1933), and reiterated by him in United States v. Sherman, 200 F.2d 880, 882 (1952). As summarized in the annotation in 33 A.L.R.2d 883, 886, there are several excuses which can be shown to counter the defense of entrapment. One, but only one, of these is to show that defendant has already engaged in an existing course of similar crimes, and other excuses are enumerated in the annotation as alternatives. The fourth one so listed is by showing that the defendant was willing to make the sale and readily complied with the police request, referred to as “ready compliance.” I find nothing in any of the cases or this annotation that indicates that predisposition can be established only by a course of criminal conduct or engagement in similar activity so frequently that his participation in this particular event can be said to be part of a criminal pattern. Conceding that such evidence might be more persuasive to the trier of the fact, I am of the opinion that a man who promptly complies with a request to sell drugs may be said to have shown ready compliance. The jury would be entitled to find willingness to make the sale from the fact that defendant was able quickly to contact a source of the drug, make arrangements for payment therefor, secure delivery, and complete the transaction with Laabs in a half hour. His claim of threat could be rejected as implausible since it would have been equally easy for him to contact the police and advise them of this threat. To me there was a factual question for the jury as to whether defendant’s conduct, viewed in the totality of the circumstances, indicated willingness and ready compliance.
I think that United States v. Rodrigues, 433 F.2d 760, 761-762 (5 Cir. 1970), cited in the majority opinion, is most pertinent, *281and would only add the following additional quotation as illustrative of my view:
“The appellant’s version of the facts demonstrated little more than mere solicitation. A jury would of course be entitled to believe the government’s version of what occurred, that three simple requests for drugs, without censurable pressure of any sort, led to immediate affirmative responses on the part of the appellant and subsequent sales of heroin. The sole discussions, in the government’s version, were of price, quantities, and a statement by appellant relating to a New York source of supply. In any event, whether or not the jury, if asked, would have found that defendant had met his burden of showing something more than mere solicitation, it found that the government had met its burden of disproving entrapment. The evidence, unlike the undisputed testimony in Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 373, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958), presented a jury question. * * * ”
In my opinion a question of fact was created by the evidence in this case and the jury has determined that question adversely to the defendant. I am therefore of the opinion that any burden of proof resting upon the State has been sustained and the conviction should be affirmed.

. Janski v. State, Wyo., 529 P.2d 201 (1974).