Legal advice for providers close to state lines

[tandyscone]

Originally Posted by lawyerinjeans

I am amazed at how my comment is being read. My second post explicitly stated that it is LEO that would be violating the Mann Act, not the provider. And, it has no relevance whatsoever to a client. If you read the recent case law on the Mann Act, what constitutes "transporting" is being interpreted differently in different jurisdictions. Again, do not get caught up in the technicalities of the law. I have people (clients and providers) PM me all the time wanting to know if they do this, or don't do that, can they beat a prostitution charge. I usually say, "maybe". I could hold a day long trial, call witnesses and have my client sullied in open Court, and for probably $7,000 to $10,000 get him, or her off the charge. OR, for $1,000 I can get the prostitution charge amended to disorderly conduct (misdemeanor) and pay a 7 or 8 hundred dollar fine and its a done deal.

Why this works is not because of a technicality in the law, but because I put the prosecutor in an untenable position. If s/he listens to the tape, and if there is mention of crossing a state line for prostitution, they have to turn it over to FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office can decide whether paying for transportation costs constitutes "transporting". The local prosecutor cannot chance listening to the tape for fear they have to turn their police over to the FBI for investigation. So it is not a technicality, its a ploy, and its worked pretty well so far.

Unless can guarantee that LE will never use a similar tactic in a sting against clients, I think it does have relevance to clients. If LE starts using a similar tactic, then the client has to distinguish at the time of the call whether it is a true escort or an LE sting. Given the fluidity in how the Mann Act is being interpreted in different jurisdictions, that could be a very tricky decision for a client to make.

[Jannisary]

I've got to think this tactic might be more an example of a prosecutor deciding prosecuting a minor misdemeanor case wasn't worth the potential headaches in dealing with the lawyer involved and the issue raised rather than any real solid legal reasoning.

If the potential of local officers possibly breaking a federal law is cause for state prosecutors to dismiss charges in cases, what about stings by local law enforcement involving drugs, illegal guns, and a host of other illegal activities that participating in could also be illegal under federal law?

Also, do you even know that this issue is what actually caused the cases to be dismissed? Maybe by providing vigorous legal representation, that caused the local prosecutor to look more closely at the cases and decide there were other issues that made successful prosecution difficult.

If the local prosecutor really wanted to proceed with such a case and felt he had solid case despite this issue being raised by a defense attorney; couldn't the local prosecutor simply approach the federal prosecutor for his area and work things out so that there is no action against the local officers for a possible Mann Act violation?

[Red Max]

Originally Posted by Buying a *Way to Heaven

Simple55guy has it right. In real life the Bad Guys have nearly total immunity to prosecution and no accountability whatsoever, and they know it.

Furthermore, every Pigg reading this (and you can bet there are hundreds) now knows a trick they can use to try to trick someone into committing a Federal felony. It doesn't matter that no transportation, for immoral purposes or otherwise, actually occurs. U.S. courts have already proven themselves perfectly willing to send innocent men to prison for being baited into showing some possibility of willingness to have sex acts with "underage" girls who never even existed but who were cynically portrayed as being mature and experienced.

Gentlemen, the takeaway here is that if a "lady" ever asks you for any kind of assistanuce for transportation, or mentions that she is traveling from out of state, run away.

A lady mentioning that she's traveling across state lines would have my LE radar beeping like crazy. I would immediately be suspicious that they're getting ready to charge me with some over-the-top federal bullcrap to get me to cooperate.