Denying the Crime and Pleading Entrapment: Putting the Federal Law in Order

The federal law of procedure in entrapment cases is in profound disarray. Despite four attempts over the past fifty years to clarify the law of pleadings in entrapment cases, the Supreme Court has yet to do so successfully. This Note focuses on these attempts, and analyzes the issue of whether to permit a defendant to plead entrapment while simultaneously denying the crime charged. Part I reviews the historical development of the entrapment defense, the disagreement among the federal circuits with regard to alternative inconsistent defenses, and the arguments commentators have made for and against allowing alternative inconsistent defenses in entrapment cases. Part II illustrates the importance and outcome-determinative nature of this procedural issue through an analysis of the John Z. DeLorean trial. Part III then reviews the theoretical justifications for entrapment-the so-called subjective and objective approaches to entrapment. Finally, Part IV demonstrates that allowing a defendant to plead alternative inconsistent defenses logically follows from both of these theoretical justifications for entrapment

Denying the Crime and Pleading Entrapment: Putting the Federal Law in Order

The federal law of procedure in entrapment cases is in profound disarray. Despite four attempts over the past fifty years to clarify the law of pleadings in entrapment cases, the Supreme Court has yet to do so successfully. This Note focuses on these attempts, and analyzes the issue of whether to permit a defendant to plead entrapment while simultaneously denying the crime charged. Part I reviews the historical development of the entrapment defense, the disagreement among the federal circuits with regard to alternative inconsistent defenses, and the arguments commentators have made for and against allowing alternative inconsistent defenses in entrapment cases. Part II illustrates the importance and outcome-determinative nature of this procedural issue through an analysis of the John Z. DeLorean trial. Part III then reviews the theoretical justifications for entrapment-the so-called subjective and objective approaches to entrapment. Finally, Part IV demonstrates that allowing a defendant to plead alternative inconsistent defenses logically follows from both of these theoretical justifications for entrapment

Pangenome Analysis of <i>Burkholderia pseudomallei</i>: Genome Evolution Preserves Gene Order despite High Recombination Rates

<div><p>The pangenomic diversity in <i>Burkholderia pseudomallei</i> is high, with approximately 5.8% of the genome consisting of genomic islands. Genomic islands are known hotspots for recombination driven primarily by site-specific recombination associated with tRNAs. However, recombination rates in other portions of the genome are also high, a feature we expected to disrupt gene order. We analyzed the pangenome of 37 isolates of <i>B</i>. <i>pseudomallei</i> and demonstrate that the pangenome is ‘open’, with approximately 136 new genes identified with each new genome sequenced, and that the global core genome consists of 4568±16 homologs. Genes associated with metabolism were statistically overrepresented in the core genome, and genes associated with mobile elements, disease, and motility were primarily associated with accessory portions of the pangenome. The frequency distribution of genes present in between 1 and 37 of the genomes analyzed matches well with a model of genome evolution in which 96% of the genome has very low recombination rates but 4% of the genome recombines readily. Using homologous genes among pairs of genomes, we found that gene order was highly conserved among strains, despite the high recombination rates previously observed. High rates of gene transfer and recombination are incompatible with retaining gene order unless these processes are either highly localized to specific sites within the genome, or are characterized by symmetrical gene gain and loss. Our results demonstrate that both processes occur: localized recombination introduces many new genes at relatively few sites, and recombination throughout the genome generates the novel multi-locus sequence types previously observed while preserving gene order.</p></div

Pairwise values for gene order conservation.

<p>Reds indicate relatively low similarity of gene order and yellows, higher. All values are in the range 0.9089<<i>x</i><0.9980.</p

Distribution of genes and fit of models described by Haegeman and Weitz [10].

<p>Open circles are data from this study, with fitted lines according to models A (red squares), C (blue filled circles), and D (black triangles). See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140274#pone.0140274.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a> and text for descriptions of models and parameters.</p

Model fit parameters.

<p>Models described by Haegeman and Weitz [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140274#pone.0140274.ref010" target="_blank">10</a>]. Model A: neutral model with all genes exchanged with environment with parameter <i>θ</i>₁. Model C: Genome has a fraction (<i>λ</i>₁) of the genome that is rigid (the core), and the rest exchanges genes with the environment with parameter <i>θ</i>₁. Model D: Similar to model C except the core exchanges genes with the environment with parameter <i>θ</i>₂. The distance from the model fit to the data for <i>B</i>. <i>pseudomallei</i> is given by Δ, with smaller numbers signifying better fit.</p

Number of genes identified by myRAST.

<p>¹ Country/source where C = clinical, S = soil, W = Water.</p><p>² Genes retained were either >80 amino acids or were annotated by myRAST with functions other than “unidentified orf” or “hypothetical protein”.</p><p>³ Finished genomes.</p><p>Number of genes identified by myRAST.</p

Genomic composition.

<p>Number of core (orange bars), character (purple bars), and unique (green bars) genes in 37 genomes. * MSHR1950 contains a 131kb plasmid.</p

Conservation of gene order among pairs of genomes.

<p>Average conservation of gene order for each genome is negatively related to the number of contigs.</p

Frequency distribution of homology groups.

<p>Dark shading indicates HGs for which myRAST identified a function, lighter shading were identified only as “hypothetical proteins”. Strain-specific genes are indicated by the leftmost bar (a), and character HGs (b) are between strain-specific genes and HGs of the extended core (c). The strict core genome is made up of HGs present in all 37 strains (d). Although relatively few genes per genome (<math><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>¯</mo> <mo>=</mo> <mn>153</mn></mrow></math>) are strain-specific, the cumulative total across the pangenome is high.</p