Monday, May 19, 2014

US v. Mosley case brief summary

US v. Mosley (10th 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 10th 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

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