In Colorado counties such as Denver, Douglas, and Arpahoe County, a law enforcement official (police or sheriff) or other person acting under their direction might trick you into saying or doing something you would not normally do or say, like Internet Luring (CRS 18-3-306). When this happens, and you are tricked into committing a criminal act, prosecutors will try to use this evidence at trial to convict you of serious criminal charges. What prosecutors don't want you to know is that there is an affirmative defense strategy called “entrapment,” which an experienced criminal defense lawyer can use to result in the dismissal of charges against you.

CRS 18-1-709 defines entrapment as “the commission of acts which would otherwise constitute an offense is not criminal if the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement official or other person acting under his direction, seeking to obtain evidence for the purpose of prosecution, and the methods used to obtain that evidence were such as to create a substantial risk that the acts would be committed by a person who, but for such inducement, would not have conceived of or engages in conduct of the sort induced. Merely affording a person an opportunity to commit and offense is not entrapment even though representations or inducements calculated to overcome the offender's fear of detection are used.” Law enforcement officials acting undercover, will try and trick you into saying or something criminal.

This affirmative defense law means that if you were tricked into doing or saying something that qualifies as a criminal offense, and it was not the sort of thing you would have normally done, then your act should not be considered criminal. We sometimes use this defense in Internet Luring cases because police use tactics which border on entrapment to get people to discuss sex, or give invitations for sex, online. At the trial, this defense requires you to first admit to that you committed the unlawful conduct and then rely entirely on the entrapment defense for your acquittal. While it is risky, it can be used successfully. Your experienced criminal defense lawyer will know the procedure rules to effectively use this defense.

Entrapment occurs throughout Colorado counties like Jefferson, Broomfield, and Adams County, when law enforcement officials seek to create evidence in criminal cases. If you are being charged with a crime caused by a law enforcement official's entrapment, don't let them get away with punishing you for something they trapped you into doing. Be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact our experienced entrapment lawyers at the O'Malley Law Office at 303-830-0880. Together, we can protect your future.