Ricardo and Maria were major drug dealers in the Miami-Dade area in Florida. Law enforcement efforts to gain access to the two dealers through the use of undercover agents had proven futile

Question

Ricardo and Maria simply would let no new outsiders meet with them personally. In a final effort to shut down this major drug operation the police decide to develop a sting that would be irresistible to the drug duo. However, to ensure that the duo would welcome the enticement, the police department removed actual drugs accumulated throughout the year from various other drug busts. The police preempt the sting by leaking a story to the local news that the police suspected that a major drug shipment might be smuggled into the Miami-Dade area sometime during the next month. The police released enough information through the local informants to ensure that Ricardo and Maria would take the bait and attempt to take command of the drugs when the "new dealers" entered their neighborhood. On July 2, 2011, at approximately 2:00 AM, the police drive a loaded 18-wheeler from a police storage facility to an abandoned warehouse in the Ricardo/Maria drug district. The trailer rig is locked inside the warehouse as a web of law enforcement is established to snare the duo if they should arrive to claim the drugs. At approximately 4:00 AM, the duo arrives with a handful of personal guards to inspect the trailer. As soon as the duo enters the trailer law enforcement moves in for the bust. The suspects are arrested. During there trial, the attorney for the duo defends her clients' action based on the rules of entrapment. What rules will enhance the defense? What major mistake did the police make, if any? What action may have proven to be a more effective scenario?

Answer 1

Rule of entrapment; entrapment versus due process; use of actual drugs taken from police storage.