Can you explain entrapment in Florida?
Answer: So entrapment is an actual legal defense in Florida, and it typically, you know, we get this call a lot especially in the traffic ticket arena, but it is an affirmative defense that is raised, and it occurs for the most part when the police have seduced or enticed the individual to engage in conduct that they wouldn’t normally have done.So I’ll use it in the in the traffic scenario. So an off-duty police officer, unmarked, let’s say, but still in their jurisdiction. And they’re tailgating you, which is then causing you to speed up because you have this car behind you. In that situation, you might be able to successfully argue that you were entrapped because the police officer was so close to your bumper that you had no other choice but to speed. A lot of people call the office and say they were entrapped. It’s a somewhat of a difficult defense to ultimately raise and to be successful on. It does exist, it exists sometimes in the drug scenario where someone’s selling and they say, “Hey, you know, I was entrapped into selling to this person.” It’s a very, very, very fact-specific defense if and when it’s raised. And if it is successful in court, then it’s—then it’s a complete affirmative defense meaning the defendant would be found not guilty. Although sometimes raised, it’s not the easiest defense to succeed on.
