Criminal Procedure – Entrapment

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U.S. Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure – Entrapment

Where the government mad persistent phone calls and e-mails to the defendant to induce him to commit a crime, to which the defendant did not respond, he is entitled to acquittal on an entrapment defense.

“The FBI frequently emailed and called Barta, with no response from Barta. These were ‘repeated attempts at persuasion.’ Id. at 435. The FBI invented false deadlines for Barta to commit to the deal and invented false problems for the Los Angeles County hospital system. These were ‘fraudulent representations.’ Id. The FBI significantly sweetened what would have already been an attractive deal to Barta and his co-defendants. Here we have ‘promises of reward beyond that inherent in the customary execution of the crime.’ Id. And the FBI pressed Barta—both directly and through Buenrostro—to make a deal that it had reason to believe Barta would be making mainly to benefit his less fortunate friend, Buenrostro. Here we have ‘pleas based on need, sympathy, or friendship.’ Id. The presence of all these plus factors shows that the government induced Barta to commit a crime, one that the government concedes he had no predisposition to commit. That is enough to establish entrapment as a matter of law.”

Reversed and Remanded.

13-3208 U.S. v. Barta

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Tharp, J., Hamilton, J.

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