Court Opinion

ID: 9763075
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:36:26.97007+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:39.258035
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
In State v. Decker, 321 Mo. 1163, 1169, 14 S.W.2d 617, 619-20 (1929), this Court declared:
Where the criminal intent originates in the mind of the defendant on trial, and the offense is accomplished, it constitutes no defense that an opportunity is furnished, or that an officer aids the accused in the commission of the crime in order to obtain evidence upon which to prosecute him. But where the criminal intent originates in the mind of the entrapper, and the accused is lured into the commission of the offense charged in order to prosecute him therefor, it is the general rule that no conviction may be had, though the criminality of the act is not affected by any question of consent.
I would reaffirm the Decker statement and holding to the end that “ ‘no shifting of the burden placed on the prosecution to prove guilt results in requiring to any degree or extent that an accused prove his innocence.’ ” State v. Reeder, 395 S.W.2d 209, 210 (Mo.1965).
I respectfully dissent.