Antonio Martinez, also known as Muhammad Hussain, discussed the killing of American soldiers with an unnamed individual who, unknown to Martinez, was actually an FBI informant. The informant passed that information to FBI agents who arranged a sting operation during which Martinez helped build a phony car bomb. Martinez was arrested as he attempted to set off the phony car bomb in front of a recruiting center in suburban Baltimore. Martinez claimed that he was entrapped by the federal agents. Martinez’s attorney argued that the defendant was not capable of developing the plan to make the bomb on his own.

The federal attorney also argued that Martinez had clearly been making plans to attack U.S. soldiers before the informant contacted him. The federal attorney also argued that whether Martinez was capable of actually building a bomb on his own did not matter since, he not only believed that he could do it, but also actually tried to do it, and would have done it had the bomb not been a fake. The prosecuting attorney also had a tape of Martinez arming the bomb. The video shows that Martinez enjoyed the prospect of killing the soldiers.

Was Martinez entrapped? Explain by outlining the elements of entrapment. “Lawyer Argues Entrapment in Bomb Plot,” The New York Times, December 14, 2010, p. 18.)