Gary E. Heitman Case Summary

The court case of State of Nebraska v. Gary E. Heitman deals with the conviction of Heitman on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit first degree sexual assault on a minor. “Heitman contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict and that he was entrapped” (Heitman p.1) while the court concluded that “there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction” (Heitman p.1) and “further determined that the district court was not clearly wrong in finding that Heitman was predisposed to commit the crime and that thus, the district court was correct in rejecting his entrapment defense.” (Heitman p.1). I agree with the courts rejection of the entrapment defense based upon things discussed in other entrapment cases and ideas brought up by

Entrapment, as defined in State v. Heitman, “is the governmental inducement of one to commit a crime not contemplated by the individual in order to prosecute that individual for the commission of the criminal offense.” (Heitman p.5). It is a defense used to defeat a prosecutor’s claims and if proven true mitigates the legal consequences of the defendant’s unlawful conduct. There are two essential elements that determine whether someone is entrapped: “ (1) the government induced the defendant to commit the offense charged and (2) the defendant's predisposition to commit the criminal act was such that the defendant was not otherwise ready and willing to commit the offense.” (Heitman p.5). U.S v. Poehlman is a court case example of entrapment, as it is evident that Poehlman was coerced into committing a crime. Poehlman solely had intentions of traveling to California in order to meet a woman,Sharon, that shared strange fetishes and who he hoped to have a long-term relationship with. Once he arrived in California, Sharon, “offered him some pornographic magazines featuring children, which he accepted and examined. He commented that he had always looked at little girls” (Poelman 3). From there, Mr.Poehlman was arrested and charged for attempted lewd acts with a minor. One issue with this case is that officials were only able to convict him of these charges within California; therefore, if they had not coerced him to traveling to California there would be no case. This shifted the courts ruling from guilty to innocent due to