Court Opinion

ID: 9551204
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:49:16.711941+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:19.218964
License: Public Domain

BRETT, Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent to this decision for the same reasons expressed in Lynn v. State, Okl.Cr., 505 P.2d 1337 (1973). This Court is authorized to consider other records before the Court and to take judicial knowledge thereof, when such records cast light upon any matter before the Court. See: Jones v. State, Okl.Cr., 341 P.2d 616 (1959); Baeza v. State, Okl.Cr., 453 P.2d 271 (1969); and Moore v. State, Okl.Cr., 436 P.2d 236 (1968). In Lynn, supra, it became clear that Arthur “Artie” Parks was one of the police informers. Parks furnished the LSD which was used *1144to make the sale to the paid informer, Nancy Standerfer. Parks sent defendant to Thelma’s Cafe for the sole purpose of facilitating the meeting between the paid informer and defendant. Parks worked with the police and the paid informer during the night to facilitate the sale of LSD to Nancy Standerfer. Therefore, I conclude if Clarence Lynn was entrapped by the informers, this defendant was also entrapped.
The United States Supreme Court, in United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973), repeated with approval what was said in Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958), as follows:
“The function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. Manifestly, that function does not include the manufacturing of crime. Criminal activity is such that stealth and strategy are necessary weapons in the arsenal of the police officer. However, ‘A different question is presented when the criminal design originates with the officials of the government, and they implant in the mind of an innocent person the disposition to commit the alleged offense and induce its commission in order that they may prosecute.’ ” Citing Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413 (1935).
As I view the facts of this case, the informer Parks must have been working with the police in such a manner as to assure that the narcotics would be present at 1101 North Hudson at the right time; otherwise, he would not have delivered the LSD to the house only a few days prior to the time set for the alleged buy.
While I do not contend that defendant was an “innocent person” from the view of not participating in the use of drugs, there was nothing to show that he was “predisposed” as a seller of drugs, as contemplated by the term “innocent person.” Therefore, I respectfully dissent to this decision.