US v. Mosley case brief summary

US v. Mosley (10^th cir.)

• D approached and undercover agent to purchase MJ. The agent didn’t have any, bought said he did have c*caine he would sell at a price well below street value. D agreed to pay a certain amount and the agent agreed to front the rest. D paid $3200 and received 8 oz. well below street value. He was immediately arrested.
• D argues that the low price of the c*caine was inducement because it was too good to pass up.
• The 10^th circuit found that this does not amount to outrages conduct.

• Outrages conduct has 2 elements
• Government creation of the crime
• May not engineer crime from start to finish, expand or continue crime
• Not outrages for the government to induce a defendant to repeat or continue a crime or even to induce him to expand or extend previous criminal activity.
• Substantial Coercion
• Government pushes the defendant
• Large financial inducements could amount to coercion
• Must be particularly egregious to sustain an outrages conduct defense.
• Creation of the crime
• D argued that the government was so deeply involved in the crime
• D had distributed c*caine in the past and bought prior to the current offense.
• However, D approached officer wanting to buy marijuana but was talked up to buying c*caine
• Coercion
• Price (was selling at an unusually low price)
• Addiction (exploited the defendants addiction)
• Ratcheting up the severity of the transaction (increased the sale amount to meet statutory limitation)
• The barmaid (improper sexual activity)
• The gun

• Outrages conduct defense
• Should be brought up in pretrial motions rather than to the jury.
• Emotional argument
• Harder to prove than entrapment
• Must look at a totality of the circumstances