Justices, in Entrapment Case, Cast A Rare Vote Against Prosecutors
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The Supreme Court overturned a Federal pornography conviction on the ground of entrapment today, ruling 5 to 4 that the Government had failed to prove that a Nebraska farmer would have violated the law in the absence of an elaborate sting operation that took more than two years to induce him to order child pornography through the mail. The decision, written by Justice Byron R. White, was based on earlier Supreme Court rulings on entrapment, requiring the prosecution to show that a person induced by Government agents to commit a crime had been “independently predisposed” to the criminal conduct. Unusual Voting Pattern The ruling is unlikely to cramp the Government’s routine use of undercover operations to investigate drug trafficking or the fencing of stolen property. The majority appeared to view this case almost as an anomaly, an extreme misuse of Government power in which an innocent person was led to commit a manufactured crime. Still, the decision was notable, both as a rare defeat for the Government in a criminal case before the current Supreme Court and for an unusual voting pattern that saw the two newest Justices, David H. Souter and Clarence Thomas, joining the majority. Justices Harry A. Blackmun and John Paul Stevens also joined Justice White’s majority opinion. More : query.nytimes.com |