Of the enticement (of a minor) cases I’ve worked, most have been clear cut and offer little opportunity for anything beyond sentencing considerations. However, there have been a couple that are clearly over-aggressive considering the nature of evidence at hand. I can fully understand where the effort involved in ongoing enticement investigations might generate some implicit and, occasionally, unrealistic expectation of action on the part of the investigating officer. This, at the cost of the would-be defendant’s personal freedom, reputation, and, often, their entire family’s savings.

One thing that I haven’t yet observed, but for which I will begin advocating is an accounting of time and resources invested into such investigations. These are public funds, after all, and should be accounted for. They should be made a regular part of discovery material. It seems only fair, especially considering that defense expert’s fees are closely scrutinized during depo and/or trial, yet there is no ready ability (to my knowledge) to extract equally relevant information from prosecution experts. It’s time to understand the true motives behind some of the more questionable cases put forth for prosecution.