Georgia Rape Defense Attorney - Frequently Asked Questions

I was arrested in a sting operation involving a police officer posing as a minor. Was this entrapment?

Anyone who has watched the television show “To Catch A Predator” is familiar with Internet sting operations in which law enforcement agents pose as minors and engage in sexually explicit conversations with adults. If an adult shows up to have sex with a purported child, or sends explicit photos to an undercover officer, he can be arrested and charged with a crime.

Georgia has its own group of law enforcement professionals dedicated to conducting these types of operations. The federally-funded Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force regularly conducts Internet stings to catch sexual predators. If carried out in compliance with the law, these techniques can be useful in catching truly dangerous criminals. However, if law enforcement pushes too hard and incites a person to commit a crime that they would not have committed on their own, this may be a case of entrapment.

Georgia law (O.C.G.A. 16-3-25) states that a person “is not guilty of a crime if, by entrapment, his conduct is induced or solicited” by law enforcement “for the purpose of obtaining evidence to be used in prosecuting the person for commission of the crime.” Thus, if the police entrap a person into committing a crime, the person is not guilty of the crime in question.

What qualifies as entrapment? According to the statute, “entrapment exists where the idea and intention of the commission of the crime originated with” a law enforcement officer and that officer “by undue persuasion, incitement, or deceitful means, induced the accused to commit the act which the accused would not have committed except for the conduct of such officer."

Basically, this means that entrapment has occurred if the following three statements are true:
* The idea to commit the crime originated with the police;
* The police used undue persuasion, incitement, or deceitful means to induce the accused to commit the crime; and
* The accused would not have committed the crime without the actions of the police.

Since Georgia courts often favor the word and judgment of law enforcement officers, entrapment may be difficult to prove. Anyone accused of a sex crime who believes they were entrapped by the police should consult with an experienced sex crimes attorney immediately.

The Berry Law Group knows what elements must be established to prove entrapment. It will focus on demonstrating that the accused had no history of sexual misconduct with children and that the police used methods that were out of bounds. The consequences of a conviction for Internet sex crimes involving minors can be life-changing – prison time, fines, and mandatory sex offender registration. If you or a loved one has been accused of a sex crime, contact the Berry Law Group as soon as possible to begin working on your defense.

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