U.S. v. Barta

Defendant was entitled to acquittal on charge of conspiracy to commit bribery, where said charge arose out of undercover government sting operation, and where record supported defendant’s claim that he was entrapped into committing said offense. While defendant ultimately wrote check to fictional govt. official for purposes of obtaining pharmaceutical services contract, govt. conceded that defendant was not predisposed to commit said offense prior to efforts by government officials to have defendant commit said offense. Moreover, record established existence of entrapment defense where: (1) defendant did not initially respond to frequent FBI emails and telephone calls about scheme to obtain contract; (2) FBI invented false deadlines for defendant to commit to scheme; (3) FBI granted defendant significantly more benefits than what he was originally promised as inducement for him to join scheme; and (4) FBI pressed defendant to join scheme after it learned that defendant was thinking about joining instant scheme as means to help friend.