State v. Groulx
Decision Date | 06 October 1964 |
Citation | 106 N.H. 44,203 A.2d 641 |
Parties | STATE v. Joseph R. GROULX. |
Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
William Maynard, Atty. Gen., George S. Pappagianis, Deputy Atty. Gen., and J. Francis Roche, City Sol., for the State.
William D. Tribble and David J. KillKelley, Jaffrey, for defendant.
The evidence in this case was confined to the testimony of one Jordan, an investigator for the State Liquor Commission, who had been requested to check alleged gambling at the Jutras Post which is a licensee of the Commission. Under the terms of the license and the regulations of the State Liquor Commission, gambling was prohibited. The substance of Jordan's testimony, which was not modified by cross-examination appears in the following excerpt:
This evidence established that the defendant had accepted a bet which by both statute and judicial decision was illegal. RSA 338:2; RSA 577:7; State v. Mint Vending Machine, 85 N.H. 22, 154 A. 224; State v. Kachadoorian, 104 N.H. 29, 30, 177 A.2d 398; 6 A Corbin, Contracts, s. 1481 (1960). The defendant's contention that there is no violation of law because there was no proof that the horse race was actually run is without merit. 'It may be proved in a prosecution for receiving bets on horse races that the bet was placed to secure evidence, but it need not be proved in such a prosecution that the race was run.' 3 Underhill, Criminal Evidence s. 832 (5th ed. 1957). The further contention that there was no bet between the investigator Jordan and the defendant because there was no 'concurrence of wills' also fails. What was said in State v. Del Bianco, 96 N.H. 436, 439, 78 A.2d 519, 521-522, is relevant here.
Entrapment is a well-recognized defense to a criminal prosecution. State v. Snow, 98 N.H. 1, 93 A.2d 831. However it is ironical that this judge-invented doctrine has been the subject of much confusion and that the definition, formulation and application of the doctrine may not be completely settled at this date. Note, Entrapment, 73 Harv.L.Rev. 1333 (1960). See Comment, Administration of the Affirmative Trap and the Doctrine of Entrapment: Device and Defense, 31 U.Chi.L.Rev. 137 (1963). This is readily evident from the majority, concurring and dissenting opinions in Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413; Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848. There is some indication that the standard in determining the application of the entrapment defense is becoming less subjective and more objective. Mueller, Pieski & Ploscowe, Criminal Law in 1963; Annual Survey of American Law 41; Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 10 L.Ed.2d 462. See also, Model Penal Code, s. 2.13 (Proposed Official Draft, 1962).
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State v. Larose
...they engaged in "the kind of conduct ... [that] may ... have induced the accused to commit the crime charged." State v. Groulx, 106 N.H. 44, 47, 203 A.2d 641 (1964) (quotation omitted). We also examine the defendant's "own conduct and predisposition," Little, 121 N.H. at 772, 435 A.2d 517 (......
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State v. Dennis
...officials or their agents.' See Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 434, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 10 L.Ed.2d 462, 468 (1963); State v. Groulx, 203 A.2d 641, 642 (N.H.Sup.Ct.1964); 33 A.L.R.2d 883 (1954). Though the law does not tolerate traps for unwary innocents, it does not preclude traps for unw......
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State v. Little, 80-269
...is becoming less subjective and more objective." State v. Bacon, 114 N.H. at 308, 319 A.2d at 639 (quoting State v. Groulx, 106 N.H. 44, 47, 203 A.2d 641, 642 (1964)). Our decision in Bacon, rendered after RSA 626:5 became effective, neither labelled the statutory defense of entrapment as b......
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State v. Campbell, No. 5941
...recognized in this state in State v. Del Bianco, 96 N.H. 436, 78 A.2d 519 and is referred to as 'well-recognized' in State v. Groulx, 106 N.H. 44, 46, 203 A.2d 641. The later case points out that the doctrine 'has been the subject of much confusion and that the definition, formulation and a......