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So they are sure they caught some bad guys. That's what they say. Don't you feel safer already? Having just completed a stint on jury duty in which the entrapment technique was the basis for the charges, it's time to revisit what happens in these stings. Whether NYC cops or FBI agents in Miami, the m.o. is to pose as a kindred spirit in the illicit activity du jour. But the smarter 'criminals' don't fall for this crap, so the operation itself becomes mere bottom feeding. But these agents of our state(s) have to produce results lest they lose their jobs, so they ply away at the bottom, where the picking is plentiful and easy. The PR bounce is discernable, whether in the offices of 1 Police Plaza where the number of indictments grows like a feather in the cops' cap or in the press that sells us the 'news' of a terrorist sting. The unsuspecting public continues to think it's good news when these stings are successful.It will be interesting to see what real evidence the FBI comes up with and how it squares with testimony and actual witnesses, should there be any other than the FBI agents and their kin. It would be comforting to think that these guys will get a bona fide jury trial open to the public. More likely, they will be treated as 'enemy combatants' never to be heard from again. Should they get their day in court, we can only hope the jury will be as fair and analytic as their NYC counterparts. The poor hapless defendants who were stung in the case I was on were cleared of all charges. The city was willing to waste unconscionable amounts of money in trying to nail four guys over sale of $40 worth of drugs (yes, you read that right- $40 total for the four 'perps'). How many millions more will the feds spend in pursuit of seven quasi-normal wannabes who thought they could raise some easy cash by telling someone what they thought he wanted to hear. (They got that part right.) It's hard to know who's scamming whom? The ninja-7 were duped into thinking the posse was the dumb one. OK, we'll let the feds and the ninja-7 duke it out as to who's dumb and who's dumber. It's the gullible public who is dumbest.
