Court Opinion

ID: 9481236
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:11:59.790128+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:10.244632
License: Public Domain

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the order vacating the part of the original panel’s opinion that requires the government to have reasoned grounds to investigate a particular individual. It is well established that constitutional protection of due process is violated when the government engages in outrageous investigatory conduct. See United States v. Bogart, 783 F.2d 1428, 1432 (9th Cir.1986), and cases cited therein. I believe that the category of outrageous government conduct includes instances when the government targets an individual for undercover investigation without reasoned grounds to believe that the particular individual is engaged in or about to engage in criminal activities.
*765I agree with Judge Dorothy Nelson that rooted in the Bill of Rights are the concepts that criminal investigation must move purposefully and fairly and that individuals have a right to be left alone. In our society, which places paramount importance on personal liberty, the government must have a legitimate reason to infringe upon an individual’s freedom who is — by all appearances, and according to all information possessed by the police — innocent.
In the present case there is no indication that the police acted out of any personal animus against the defendants or that the police randomly and arbitrarily targeted the defendants. Rather, an informant chose an acquaintance as the target for the police. Nonetheless, the police should not be allowed to hire informants simply to go out on fishing expeditions to find targets for undercover sting operations. I would remand to the district court to determine from a fully developed record whether the government, through its informant, had obtained information to give it reason to believe that the defendants were likely to engage in criminal activities.