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Gays in Baton Rouge arrested under invalid sodomy law

CriticalThought

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Gays in Baton Rouge arrested under invalid sodomy law | Home | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA

An undercover East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy was staking out Manchac Park about 10 a.m. one day this month when a slow-moving sedan pulling into the parking lot caught his attention. The deputy parked alongside the 65-year-old driver and, after denying being a cop, began a casual conversation that was electronically monitored by a backup team nearby.


As the two men moved their chat to a picnic table, the deputy propositioned his target with “some drinks and some fun” back at his place, later inquiring whether the man had any condoms, according to court records. After following the deputy to a nearby apartment, the man was handcuffed and booked into Parish Prison on a single count of attempted crime against nature.


There had been no sex-for-money deal between the two. The men did not agree to have sex in the park, a public place. And the count against the man was based on a part of Louisiana’s anti-sodomy law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade ago.

I don't agree with gay men cruising to pick up other gay men in a public park, but as long as they aren't having sex there or being indecent, the police have absolutely no right to harass them. That is disgusting and I hope they eventually get sued for these practices.
 
Gays in Baton Rouge arrested under invalid sodomy law | Home | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA



I don't agree with gay men cruising to pick up other gay men in a public park, but as long as they aren't having sex there or being indecent, the police have absolutely no right to harass them. That is disgusting and I hope they eventually get sued for these practices.

Too many coppers looking for things to do. Cut the force, and they won't have time for this nonsense.
 
This exact same scenario used to go on in my city all the time but the charge was orientation neutral--just solicitation of sex--but the newspaper would always run front page stories making it clear "Here are the people who were picked up soliciting gay sex in the park" or wherever the cruising spot was at the time. The police did not particularly like doing these operations, but were usually pressured into them by somebody important who had been approached or had a relative approached.

I don't consider them entrapment by any stretch of the imagination. They did however get out of control. It was begun because people reported encountering people having sex in the areas and things like used condoms were found all over certain spots in the sting areas. What they became, however, were a local circus that fell off the proverbial slippery slope when the political pressures caused what were rookie undercover cops--young men not known to be cops--to start getting super aggressive and eventually start arresting people who had tried to politely extricate themselves from uncomfortable approaches using some vague language in the law as to what constituted solicitation. It started off as a legit police operation that became a fiasco that was eventually stopped.
 
As above, entrapment. More importantly, Lawrence v Texas. Stay classy, Louisiana.
 
So you also oppose undercover drug operations as "entrapment"? If not, what do you see as the difference.

Any intelligent person would have noticed that it was the cop propositioning the fellow in the car, not the other way around.
 
Wait, cruising for a date in the park is illegal?


Or being gay is?
 
Any intelligent person would have noticed that it was the cop propositioning the fellow in the car, not the other way around.

That does not make it entrapment. An undercover cop offering to buy drugs does not make it entrapment either. There is more to it.
 
Wait, cruising for a date in the park is illegal?


Or being gay is?

These cops went along to gay people suggesting they were gay...enticed them to a room..where they were arrested..

I would sue the hell out of them...

Bigotry!!
 
That does not make it entrapment. An undercover cop offering to buy drugs does not make it entrapment either. There is more to it.

There was no exchange of money or prostitution in the Louisiana cases. It was undercover cops who approached gay men in a park, offered sex, took them to another location, and then arrested them under a law that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Exactly what meets your standard for entrapment? Or do you believe there is no such thing at all?
 
There was no exchange of money or prostitution in the Louisiana cases. It was undercover cops who approached gay men in a park, offered sex, took them to another location, and then arrested them under a law that was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Exactly what meets your standard for entrapment? Or do you believe there is no such thing at all?

Well first off if there is no law violation there can be no entrapment, but that is neither here nor there as to what entrapment is. That they went with the person for the intent to have sex would be sufficient to convict them whether or not money was exchanged as they actively participated in the act. It is no different than a prostitution or drug or any other undercover operation so far as I can tell, save the questions about the law they are alleged to have violated. Entrapment requires a showing that the police exerted influence or force to cause someone to do something illegal that they otherwise wouldn't have been inclined to do.
 
The law is bogus, the arrest was bogus. Just about sums up Louisiana.
 
Well first off if there is no law violation there can be no entrapment, but that is neither here nor there as to what entrapment is. That they went with the person for the intent to have sex would be sufficient to convict them whether or not money was exchanged as they actively participated in the act. It is no different than a prostitution or drug or any other undercover operation so far as I can tell, save the questions about the law they are alleged to have violated. Entrapment requires a showing that the police exerted influence or force to cause someone to do something illegal that they otherwise wouldn't have been inclined to do.

You are right....but the way our entrapment laws are written it is just ridiculous. Our laws SHOULD be written to make this kind of outrageous cop behavior "entrapment". It is virtually impossible to prove entrapment. I have seen prostitution cases here in Los Angeles where the cop even gets naked....and it is not considered entrapment.
 
Well first off if there is no law violation there can be no entrapment, but that is neither here nor there as to what entrapment is. That they went with the person for the intent to have sex would be sufficient to convict them whether or not money was exchanged as they actively participated in the act. It is no different than a prostitution or drug or any other undercover operation so far as I can tell, save the questions about the law they are alleged to have violated. Entrapment requires a showing that the police exerted influence or force to cause someone to do something illegal that they otherwise wouldn't have been inclined to do.

Exactly what was illegal about what they did?
 
That does not make it entrapment. An undercover cop offering to buy drugs does not make it entrapment either. There is more to it.

If I lie to a cop its a crime.

If a cop lies to me, its ok.

It just isn't right. And it certainly erodes trust in the police.
 
You are right....but the way our entrapment laws are written it is just ridiculous. Our laws SHOULD be written to make this kind of outrageous cop behavior "entrapment". It is virtually impossible to prove entrapment. I have seen prostitution cases here in Los Angeles where the cop even gets naked....and it is not considered entrapment.

Its ok for narcotics agents to use drugs too, for their "safety".
 
Gays in Baton Rouge arrested under invalid sodomy law | Home | The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA



I don't agree with gay men cruising to pick up other gay men in a public park, but as long as they aren't having sex there or being indecent, the police have absolutely no right to harass them. That is disgusting and I hope they eventually get sued for these practices
.




I don't know anything about this case other than what is posted here, but it kind of sounds like entrapment.
 
Its ok for narcotics agents to use drugs too, for their "safety".

I once represented a guy who was charged with lewd conduct. Granted...he freely admitted that he went to the park to engage in lewd conduct...but the restroom had about 30 urinals. There was no one else in the bathroom and the cop came, stood right next to my client, got an erection and stroked his penis a few times before my client did the same. Of course, then the cop left the restroom and when my client came out, the cop and his partner were waiting outside to arrest him. I tried to argue entrapment but unfortunately the law is so ridiculous...you essentially have to show that the actions of the copy were so egregious as to cause an "otherwise law-abiding citizen to commit a crime". Trying to argue this to a jury is difficult because they are all saying "I wouldn't have engaged in that conduct".....even though the actions of the cop were outrageous.
 
I once represented a guy who was charged with lewd conduct. Granted...he freely admitted that he went to the park to engage in lewd conduct...but the restroom had about 30 urinals. There was no one else in the bathroom and the cop came, stood right next to my client, got an erection and stroked his penis a few times before my client did the same. Of course, then the cop left the restroom and when my client came out, the cop and his partner were waiting outside to arrest him. I tried to argue entrapment but unfortunately the law is so ridiculous...you essentially have to show that the actions of the copy were so egregious as to cause an "otherwise law-abiding citizen to commit a crime". Trying to argue this to a jury is difficult because
they are all saying "I wouldn't have engaged in that conduct".....even though the actions of the cop were outrageous.




Your clients conduct was outrageous, but he didn't get justice in that courtroom.
 
I once represented a guy who was charged with lewd conduct. Granted...he freely admitted that he went to the park to engage in lewd conduct...but the restroom had about 30 urinals. There was no one else in the bathroom and the cop came, stood right next to my client, got an erection and stroked his penis a few times before my client did the same. Of course, then the cop left the restroom and when my client came out, the cop and his partner were waiting outside to arrest him. I tried to argue entrapment but unfortunately the law is so ridiculous...you essentially have to show that the actions of the copy were so egregious as to cause an "otherwise law-abiding citizen to commit a crime". Trying to argue this to a jury is difficult because they are all saying "I wouldn't have engaged in that conduct".....even though the actions of the cop were outrageous.

And it degrades community relations when cops are allowed to lie.

And they lie when it suits them.

So on a certain level they aren't to be trusted.

And society NEEDS to be able to trust them.

It sucks that you have to teach adolescent males to be careful of the police for their own safety.
 
That does not make it entrapment. An undercover cop offering to buy drugs does not make it entrapment either. There is more to it.

The main point of contention is that arranging to have sex with someone of the same sex is NOT illegal.
 
If this is really the most important thing on the cop's agenda for the night, then Baton Rouge needs to seriously consider cutting its police force.
 
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