One issue that seems to arise in Drug Crimes cases is the issue of Entrapment. Frequently, criminal defendants facing Drug Crimes charges will feel as though the police officers or state troopers entrapped them into committing the crime. Under Pennsylvania law however, that is rarely the case. intent to deliver The general rule of entrapment is that a police officer or a person acting in cooperation with the police (such as a confidential informant), perpetrates an entrapment if for the purpose of obtaining evidence of a crime (such as illegal drugs) he convinces the criminal defendant to commit acts which are part of drug crimes, by either:
(1) intentionally lying to the defendant in order to convince the defendant at the time that he committed the crime that his actions were not illegal; or
(2) by using various methods of persuasion, coercion etc which in turn creates a substantial risk that such a drug offense will be committed by the defendant, when the defendant was not otherwise ready to commit it.
Entrapment in Drug Crimes cases is not easy to prove by the defense. And it generally comes up in Confidential informant cases where a defendant sells drugs to a CI. The defense has the burden to prove at trial that the defendant was in fact coerced to commit the drug crime. Drug Crimes forfeitureSpecifically, that he committed the crime because he was convinced by a law enforcement agent or under cover cop that his actions were not criminal or was essentially coerced by the confidential informant to commit a drug crime that he was not otherwise likely to commit. This burden must be met by a preponderance of the evidence (51%) that his conduct occurred in response to an entrapment by law enforcement or one of their agents. Make sure to consult with or contact an experienced Entrapment attorney if you are being investigated for or charged with a drug crime in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.