Mathews v. United States

Mathews (defendant), a Small Business Administration official, refused aid to a business until its owner loaned him money, and at federal agents' instigation, the owner offered him a bribe, which he accepted before being arrested. At trial, Mathews claimed entrapment while also denying he had acted with guilty intent, but because guilty intent was an element of accepting a bribe, the judge refused to instruct the jury on entrapment, and the jury convicted him; the appellate court affirmed, and Mathews appealed.