United States v. John H. Tatar

John J. Tatar appeals from his conviction for violating 18 U.S.C. § 201 (b) by corruptly promising to give a parcel of land to a public official (an officer of the Internal Revenue Service) with the intent of inducing him to violate his duty. Our jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

The appellant admitted, through his counsel [R.T., p. 49] that he offered the bribe as charged, but based his defense on the doctrine of entrapment. In his appeal, Tatar contends that (1) the evidence established entrapment as a matter of law, and (2) that the instructions of the trial court on the issue of entrapment were erroneous and constitute grounds for reversal. Because the factual background of the case is quite long and detailed and we perceive little merit in the appellant’s contentions, we will abbreviate somewhat the chain of events leading to the offer and alleged entrapment.

In March of 1968, Agent Miller of the Internal Revenue Service began an audit of appellant’s tax returns for the period 1963 to 1966 which were filed in August of 1967. Tatar was a dealer in real estate. Agent Miller soon uncovered several questionable land and loan transactions. It seems fair to characterize…