United States v. Mayfield

Leslie Mayfield (defendant), previously convicted of robbing drug stash-houses, was approached by undercover operative Jeffrey Potts about robbing another stash-house; Potts testified Mayfield readily agreed, helped plan the robbery, and assembled the group's weapons. Mayfield instead offered evidence that he had gone straight since his past convictions, repeatedly rebuffed Potts's persistent invitations, and only agreed after Potts implicitly threatened him, coached him on what to say at planning meetings, and personally supplied the weapons for the arsenal; the trial judge granted the government's motion to exclude this proffered evidence, and Mayfield was convicted, with an en banc rehearing eventually granted.