YOU BE THE JUDGE WRITING PROBLEM An undercover drug informant learned from a mutual friend that Philip Friedman “knew where to get marijuana.” The informant asked Friedman three times to get him some marijuana, and Friedman agreed after the third request. Shortly thereafter Friedman sold the informant a small amount of the drug. The informant later offered to sell Friedman three pounds of marijuana. They negotiated the price and then made the sale.

Friedman was tried for trafficking in drugs. He argued entrapment. Was Friedman entrapped?

Argument for Friedman: The undercover agent had to ask three times before Friedman sold him a small amount of drugs. A real drug dealer, predisposed to commit the crime, leaps at an opportunity to sell. If the government spends time and money luring innocent people into the commission of crimes, all of us are the losers. Argument for the Government: Government officials suspected Friedman of being a sophisticated drug dealer, and they were right. When he had a chance to buy three pounds, a quantity only a dealer would purchase, he not only did so but bargained with skill, showing a working knowledge of the business. Friedman was not entrapped—he was caught.