Are Prostitution Stings Entrapment Under Texas Law?
The short answer is “no”.
Prostitution stings (aka john stings) involve female officers dressing up as call girls/hookers, hanging out in high crime areas, and approaching men (usually in cars), and asking them if they “want a date”. The conversations proceed from there, often with the undercover officer being the first one to actually raise the prospect of exchanging sex for money (which is the legal definition of prostitution in Texas).
Austin Police Department runs these sorts of sting operations several times a year. Well, if you’re arrested in this sort of operation, can your lawyer successfully argue entrapment?
Probably not. Through caselaw, the definition of entrapment in Texas includes not only inducement or persuasion by the officer to commit the crime. It also must be of such a nature that the ordinary law abiding citizen would have been induced or persuaded to commit it.
Thus, at jury trial, if the defense were even successful in having an entrapment charge submitted to the jury, the prosecutor can simply argue this: “Find this defendant not guilty, if you too, the jury members would have agreed to have sex with this undercover officer for money.” That’s a pretty high standard to get a juror to agree with (at least back in the jury room with the other members).
I was involved in a jury trial involving a prostitution sting once, where we were able to get a 38.23 instruction in front of the jury, and they acquitted. But that’s a story for another day.
i have a question...in the state of texas is it against the law to moon a cop?
what is a 38.23 instruction
I agree that the LE is going to far to entrap consenting adults. I just spend hours on line researching on line linked arrests for this. I understand when a police dept gets calls from a client that has been robbed or neighbors who call because someone was not being very discreet.
It all comes down to how far we allow the law to control our privacy. Not all adult providers are drug addicts, we are raising our kids, pay for college and not on welfare. with the average house in Jersey going from at least 250 to 400,000, because you can't afford to live in NJ on welfare anymore.
Most cases whether client or provider, could be won at trail as they are now arresting people for suspicion of entering premises of a prostitute. A lot of people can not afford to bond out, get a lawyer so they plead guilty because its not a felony, but now they have a conviction on record. Some cites list these crimes as sex crimes and list those arrested as sexual predator records. Now they automatically arrest the establishment owner or lessee, without being prepared to prove in court that they had knowledge of any illegal activities.
Police have bullied and taken advantage of the fact that most people don't know their rights till after they have been arrested a few times and done some jail time. Also you have these clients that call and right out ask if you will do " a certain type of sex act for money. these guys obviously do not know that that is enough evidence for a conviction.
I agree that the LE is going to far to entrap consenting adults. I just spend hours on line researching on line linked arrests for this. I understand when a police dept gets calls from a client that has been robbed or neighbors who call because someone was not being very discreet.
It all comes down to how far we allow the law to control our privacy. Not all adult providers are drug addicts, we are raising our kids, pay for college and not on welfare. with the average house in Jersey going from at least 250 to 400,000, because you can't afford to live in NJ on welfare anymore.
Most cases whether client or provider, could be won at trail as they are now arresting people for suspicion of entering premises of a prostitute. A lot of people can not afford to bond out, get a lawyer so they plead guilty because its not a felony, but now they have a conviction on record. Some cites list these crimes as sex crimes and list those arrested as sexual predator records. Now they automatically arrest the establishment owner or lessee, without being prepared to prove in court that they had knowledge of any illegal activities.
Police have bullied and taken advantage of the fact that most people don't know their rights till after they have been arrested a few times and done some jail time. Also you have these clients that call and right out ask if you will do " a certain type of sex act for money. these guys obviously do not know that that is enough evidence for a conviction.