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THE HOTTIE DEFENSE
Judge Found Cop’s Looks Were So Good, They Aided Entrapment

BY STEPHANIE FRANCIS WARD

He’s so good-looking, it’s not a crime.

A Florida appellate court upheld dismissal of charges that stemmed from a drug sting on the grounds of police entrapment. The trial judge had found the undercover officer instigating the buy "was a very attractive man," while the defendant, a self-described "lonely homosexual man," testified he bought the drugs at the officer’s request in hopes of getting a date.

The state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled 2-1 for the defendant. Its Jan. 21 opinion also notes the defendant’s testimony that the officer asked for drugs four times in one evening.

"Based on the explicit and implicit findings by the trial court, the police conduct at issue can best be described as using the allure of the possibility of sex to induce one who is under no suspicion of criminal plans or activity to commit a nonsex-related crime that has been instigated and suggested by the police," the court wrote. State of Florida v. Julio Blanco, 4D03-113.

A Fort Lauderdale detective on loan to the Drug Enforcement Administration approached Julio Blanco at a gay bar in 2002, identified himself as "Mike" and asked if Blanco liked to "party," Blanco testified at trial. Blanco, who was sitting by himself and found the man both friendly and attractive, asked for clarification, thinking that the man might have sex with him.

In response, the officer told Blanco that he "liked to have a good time," and asked Blanco to buy him some cocaine, according to the opinion. Initially, Blanco told him no, but relented after three more requests.

"When Mike asked Blanco a third time for cocaine, Blanco became annoyed and started to leave," the opinion states Blanco testified. "Blanco told him that if he was looking for drugs, he did not have any."

But because the officer was very handsome and Blanco was interested in him, he stayed, according to the complaint, and later agreed to see if anyone in the bathroom was selling cocaine. No one was, but Blanco was able to buy the officer some crystal methamphetamine.

"Mike" testified that he believed Blanco began the conversation about drugs and offered to get some for "Mike."

Later that evening, the two exchanged numbers, and the officer telephoned Blanco on more than one occasion. Two weeks later, Blanco was arrested.

Carolyn M. Snurkowski, a Florida assistant attorney general, says her office would not comment on the matter.

Even if the undercover officer was not attractive, the charges against Blanco would probably still have been dismissed, says Kevin J. Kulik, Blanco’s attorney.

"He certainly knew by the third time that my client didn’t do drugs," says Kulik, describing the officer as 6’2", under 30 years old and in good shape.

Susan J. Lebow, the Broward County judge who heard Blanco’s case, seems to agree.

"This whole situation seemed very clear to me," she said in court. "I mean, the detective walked in dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, and for the record, he was a very attractive man."

Kulik refrained from describing his client’s physical appearance. "That’s almost impossible for me to answer," the Fort Lauderdale lawyer says.

Using attractive male officers in stings that involve locations frequented by gay men is common, says James L. Schwartz, who previously represented the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association in the ABA’s House of Delegates.

"Good-looking cops are sent out, and they’re told to ‘Try and get yourself picked up,’ " says Schwartz, who practices in Chicago. "It would be the equivalent of sending a very good-looking woman out to solicit someone for sex. If the person is very good-looking, it becomes something that makes [committing the crime] that much easier."