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This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Police institutes a series of 'drunk decoy' operations. They arrested nineteen individuals. Laverne Powell (D) was arrested on March 21, 1985, when she pilfered a wallet containing nine dollars. A police officer was feigning drunkenness. He lay on his side in a fetal position with a paper bag containing a beer bottle in his hand; a wallet protruded from a rear pocket of his jeans. Money was sticking outside of the wallet. D walked by the officer posing as a helpless drunkard. She then turned back and stole the wallet. The Grand Jury returned an indictment for theft in the first degree. Averring she had been induced by the police to commit the offense, D moved for dismissal of the charge. The court concluded the police conduct in question constituted entrapment as a matter of law and dismissed the indictment with prejudice. P appealed.

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