If you were arrested by an undercover law enforcement officer or after an interaction with someone who was assisting the police as a confidential informant (CI), you may feel like you were victim of entrapment. Entrapment can involve anything from a drug or prostitution deal to an elaborate theft, kidnapping or even terrorist plot.
Not all use of undercover officers or CIs involves entrapment. However, law enforcement agencies need to be very careful to avoid crossing the line from gathering evidence of criminal activity to encouraging or causing it. The latter is entrapment.
Generally, civilian CIs are more likely to cross that line. These are civilians who may agree to help police catch someone they know in a criminal act in exchange for getting their own charges dropped or minimized. When a civilian is working as a CI, they’re considered a “government agent” under the law. However, even experienced law enforcement officers have been known to engage in entrapment if they become too invested in trying to make a case against someone.
Ohio law and entrapment
Entrapment isn’t illegal in Ohio. However, a person who has been charged with a crime may be able to use it as an “affirmative defense.” That’s why it’s important to know what actions constitute entrapment – and which don’t.
According to the Ohio Supreme Court, entrapment can be used as a defense if 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 to prosecute.”
To use a very simple example, say an undercover agent walks up to someone and asks to buy illegal drugs. The person has the drugs on them and sells them to the agent. That likely won’t be considered entrapment because they had the drugs and were willing to sell them after a simple request. Now say an undercover agent pleads, threatens or harasses someone until they go find some drugs and sell them to the agent. Then a case could likely be made for entrapment.
It typically boils down to whether an undercover agent initiated or encouraged criminal activity that someone wouldn’t have otherwise engaged in order to obtain evidence. It’s not always a clearcut case, one way or another. If you believe that you were entrapped into breaking the law, it’s crucial to have legal guidance to help you determine whether you have a viable defense in this regard.