Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
Manufactured Federal Jurisdiction
What investigatory jurisdiction does the FBI have?
They charged my friend with 875 (d) - Interstate communication with intent to extort. ''(d) Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm,
association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value,
transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication
containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the
addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or
any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime,''
However, they got involved before any telephone communications were ever made with the other party, and instigated for him to talk to them on the phone while they recorded it.
Did they have initial jurisdiction to even get involved in investigating something that was not yet in their jurisdiction, and then making it in their jurisdiction later by telling him to call them? What would that be?
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Manufactured Federal Jurisdiction
There is no way to answer your question without knowing what the FBI was investigating when they crossed paths with your friend. It is not plausible that they were simply trying to start a criminal investigation from scratch with no evidence that a crime had already occurred. Instead, they were almost surely investigating some other alleged crime. That your friend broke the law after the investigation started does not insulate her from responsibility for her actions.
Re: Manufactured Federal Jurisdiction
You're asking the wrong questions of the wrong persons. Your friend needs legal counsel to act for him in court, not an anonymous opinion that what the authorities did was 'right' or 'wrong'. He may have various motions and defenses available to him, depending upon the admissible evidence and testimony, but unless you're his attorney, the answers you get here aren't going to do him the slightest good without counsel. If you are his attorney he'd better change counsel, quick. ;-) If he is serious about getting private counsel, and doesn't qualify for the PD, have him get in touch with me, if the case is in SoCal.
Re: Manufactured Federal Jurisdiction
You are thinking the defense of entrapment which has been pretty much invalidated. As far as jurisdiction goes yes the FBI has jurisdiction on anything involving interstate commerce. Such as a telephone call to out of state. Call me once you decide it is time to hire an attorney.
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