Reply #171: Once more with feeling

[jberryhill]

One doesn't torture in good faith.

One who is not a lawyer relies on a legal opinion of what is supposed to be the nations top law enforcement authority, stating that an action is legal, and relies on that legal opinion to perform that action.

The "good faith" is about whether someone honestly relied on the legal opinion.

The ACLU has said the same thing - there are a number of factors which bear on the viability of the entrapment by estoppel offence.

Let me ask you this... You arrive at an event somewhere and you are looking for a place to park your car. The police officer in charge of controlling traffic for the event waves you over to a parking spot and says, "It's okay to park your car here."

You say, "Oh, okay, I didn't think I could park over there", and park your car where he said you could park it.

As you walk away from your car, you see that cop pull out his citation book and start writing you a parking ticket.

That's what we are talking about here - the DoJ prosecuting people for doing something the DoJ said was legal.

Is that fair?

I know... I know... Maybe I don't belong here, but I'm one of those old fashioned "liberals" who is always on about so-called "rights" of people who've been accused of crimes...