Posted on 09/16/2006 10:11:39 AM PDT by Hannibal Hamlin
Television bounty hunter Dog Chapman set free on bail in Hawaii
By Associated Press
Saturday, September 16, 2006 - Updated: 12:08 PM EST
HONOLULU - TV reality star Duane “Dog” Chapman and two co-stars accused of illegal detention and conspiracy in the bounty hunters’ capture of a cosmetics company heir in Mexico posted bail and were released Friday.
Chapman was released on $300,000 bail after spending the night in a federal detention center and his co-stars on the popular A&E show “Dog The Bounty Hunter” were freed on $100,000 bail each.
Chapman, his son, Leland Chapman, and associate Timothy Chapman, no relation, were arrested Thursday on charges stemming from the capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, officials said.
Chapman’s capture of Luster, who had fled the country during his trial on charges he raped three women, catapulted the 53-year-old bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E. Luster is now serving a 124-year prison term.
Bounty hunting is considered a crime in Mexico, and charges have been pending against the three since local police in Mexico arrested them shortly after they roped in Luster. They posted bail but never returned for their court hearing in July 2003, officials said.
Chapman made the sign of the cross and mouthed “I love you” to his wife, who was sitting in the front row of the crowded courtroom.
The men are now required to wear electronic monitoring devices until they return to court for extradition hearings to face trial in Mexico. The judge said they were not flight risks.
Chapman and his tattooed crew were ordered to surrender their passports, to stay in Hawaii and not possess any firearms.
Defense attorney Brook Hart, who successfully argued during the 1-hour, 10-minute hearing that his clients have no reason to be locked up, called the devices “overkill” but did not object to their use.
“It’s ironic that the bounty hunter would go around with a bracelet while arresting people. But so be it,” he said. Reporters and fans packed the courtroom, and several supporters held signs outside the federal courthouse saying, “Let go our hero” and “In Dog we Trust.” A&E TV crews were filming the events for a future episode of Chapman’s show. “Our whole family likes Dog. He captures people who do wrong. Plus my older sister wants to marry Leland,” said 11-year-old Shannon McNamara, of Los Angeles, who was wearing a Bounty Hunter shirt.
Chapman’s son Leland, 29, and Timothy Chapman, 41, assist him in exploits chronicled for the TV show around the Hawaiian Islands. The show focuses on Chapman’s family as much as the bounty hunting, which generally involves tracking down bail jumpers, often creating emotional scenes with repentant captives.
A member of a biker gang as a young man, Chapman was convicted in 1977 of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison.
It's a "dog eat dog" world after all.
It is B.S., Mexico will hide criminals from us, won't extradite them, then why are OUR federal agents locking up the bounty hunter & why is he agreeing to be extradited? He should fight that!
Just more sign that our U.S. Attorney General is bonkers.
Uh Mexico did deport scumbag luster and he is now in a California prison.
Chapman(Dog) skipped on his bail for 3 years. JMO, if he would have shown up he would have been acquitted(due to the publicity) and he could have gone on with his TV show.
Wonder if this will become a political hot potato on the immigration issue front. as the election draws closer. It could, if Dog manages it right.\
Fox News would love it, and the other networks would be forced to pick it up.
It depends whether Dog has the stones and the smarts (which I think he probably does), to use publicity and issue as part of his defensive strategy.
It would be in his interests to do so, and it would be in conservatives' interest to support him.
So jumping bail now becomes a "conservative" cause?
Its called being sold out (as Im sure you already know).
Dog is a hero for capturing this man who raped several women.
Our prosecutors are crazy for pursuing this.
Dog should be given a medal, not jail.
Actually it our prosecutors abiding by an extradition treaty(for Chapman's jumpin bail).
If you let Chapman(Dog) off, then Mexico has the right to let the next felon off. Tit for tat.
Just my opinion the Mexican Judge gave him 3 years to come back, after Chapman promised he would come back and like I said before if Chapman had shown up he would have been acquitted or given a minor fine, because of the publicity.
Was DTBH even on 3 years ago? Or was it before his popularity? I think this is actually great publicity for Dog. It might be a little inconvenient for a little while, but will be milked for all its worth.
The capture of luster is what launched his TV show.
JMO, the Mexican Judge is miffed that Chapman hasn't shown up after a 3 year grace period, but that does not matter to some on FR, they think Mexicans are automatically scum of the Earth.
Your faith in the Mexican justice system is hilarious.
Are you going to call Dog a coward on this thread, like you did on the last two?
You do know that in Mexico, ones needs a photo ID to vote. Try that in Detroit or Philadelphia, before you knee jerkingly bash Mexico.
Nice redirection senor.
I said Mexican justice system. Voting has noting to do with the corrupt "justice" system down in Mexico.
And yes I am bashing Mexico. They deserve it.
I said Mexican justice system. Voting has noting to do with the corrupt "justice" system down in Mexico.
What redirection? I'm stating that the Mexican voting system is way less corrupt than say Detroit or Philadelphia.
That quashes your arguement that everything in Mexico is more corrupt than the US.
No, not all of them. That's a baited statement because it would take 100% of them to be "scum of the earth" for it to be wrong.
It's probably just the ones I have encountered that are "scum of the earth" and I'm probably the only one in the whole world who has encountered these exceptions to the rule and caused this bad impression.
Let's all get politically correct so we can avoid this kind of thing. /sarc
"It is the double standard"
Darn right, our government should let Mexico know. It's time they stop harboring criminals from the US. When the Mexican government begins to act like they want to clean up their country, them we have have more respect for them.
Now they sit back and watch hundreds of Mexicans cross the border illegally, probably half of them criminal drug dealers, and do nothing to stop it. Makes me mad!
I'll say it, too...."Everything in Mexico IS more corrupt than the U.S."
Time for you to either join the reality based community or stop taking payments from the Mexican government to act as their PR flack. Read "Cauldron of Blood" by Jim Schulte on the murder of Texas student Mark Kilroy in Mexico and the coverup by corrupt Mexican politicians and cops and for in depth studies in corruption, read "Poso del Mundo" by Ovid Demaris on Mordida in Mexico.
In Cauldron of Blood, Mexican Voodoo doctors hacked their victims (known to include at least one American) apart with machetes and poured the blood into a cauldron known as a "Nganga" to get favors from Satan. Mexican cops and politicians knew this was going on, but turned a blind eye to these crimes until Texas law enforcement cracked down on Mexico. It turned out that high level Mexican politicians and justice officials participated in Voodoo ceremonies, including the Mayor of Mexico City, for years.
These are the people you would send Dog back to for Justice?
Drop the charges against Dog
Many "bounty hunters," BTW, are also illegal drug users/dealers.
Once more our "nation of laws" bull$hit.
only their officials..
Given what you wrote, I think Chapman needs to apply to the U.S. Consulate for asylum.
They are pi**ed becasue the rich rapist would have paid them a lot of "protection" money over the years to stay out of Jail and Dog ruined it for them.
I am happy that I can agree with you on something!
"would have been acquitted or given a minor fine"
People tend to disappear from Mexican jails, especially if they have money. I can't say that I blame him for not going back.
At least now there is enough publicity to protect him since so many people will be watching.
On one point I do agree with you, Tit for Tat... we have to send him back or the little cooperation we DO get from them (Mexicans) will dwindle.
I paid for my own god damned retirement, thank you very much.
My point was not that Dog is in imminent danger of being turned over to a Mexican Voodoo doctor, my point was that (high level) corruption in Mexico is well known. Certain posters are trying to deny or minimize this well known information. The Voodoo (or Santeria) types would kidnap their own victims off the street, not from Mexican jails.
Demaris discusses in his book what he saw in Mexican jails, the justice system, and Mexican drug dealers - a high profile American like Dog will have his (and his relatives) net worth carefully measured. Then the cops, lawyers, and judge (and fellow inmates) will extract as much of it (or all) as they can. As Demaris points out in his book, in a Mexican jail, nothing is free. If the mexicans could sell the meat, they would chop you up for tacos.
Please help me out here. Are you a politician or did you take this personally for some other reason?
Just about all of us retirees on this forum have financed most if not all of our retirement ourselves and many more have paid far more into Social Security than we will ever live long enough to get back.
I think the post referred to the huge retirement packages politicians receive, and not the rest of us who pay our own bills.
You are probably right. Dog has a lot of money, and he and his sons are worth a LOT more alive than dead. There are a LOT of people in the Mexican extortion system that will benefit economically from the incarceration of him and his sons. However, there is still the chance that he is a "dead man walking" if he is turned over to them.
"Our prosecutors are crazy for pursuing this. Dog should be given a medal, not jail."
The reason they are going after him is entirely diplomatic. By getting the rapist he embarressed the Mexican Govt. The authorities here will do anything they must to placate Mexico and pretend that Mexico is not what it truly is.....just another "turd world" country with no law other than how much you can pay in bribes.
BTW - I think this whole matter speaks a bit to the corruption of the DOJ in this country that he was ever arrested and jailed at the request of Mexican officials.
He caught a rapist. I say go to the wall for him.
I agree, and apparently so does Tom Tancredo. There is a previous post of a letter by Tancredo on the bizarre actions of Attorney General Gonzalez in the Department of Justice on turning Dog over to the Mexican government. Tancredo wanted to know which Administration wanted Dog processed - ours or the one in Mexico City.
BTW, all American Bounty hunters take notice. If you are overseas and happen to spot Osama Bin Ladin - DO NOT ARREST him! If you do, you are liable to end up like Dog. The Beaurocratic States (aka U.S.) Government will roll over on you (the U.S. citizen) and return you to (Pakistan / Syria / Iran) to face kidnapping charges. Attorney General Gonzalez will make sure you face Islamic justice(?), just as Dog now awaits Mexican justice(?).
Please help me out here. Are you a politician or did you take this personally for some other reason?
Just about all of us retirees on this forum have financed most if not all of our retirement ourselves and many more have paid far more into Social Security than we will ever live long enough to get back.I think the post referred to the huge retirement packages politicians receive, and not the rest of us who pay our own bills.
I'm not perfect so I may have misinterpreted what was written. You can decide for yourself. Here was my take on it.
The first poster wrote, "What the ---- is going on?". This followed his/her observation that the U.S. jumps thorugh hoops to fulfill Mexico's demands when Mexico very seldom lift's a finger to fulfill our requests." In response the second poster stated what I thought was an attempt to say that Mexico is sending it's nationals northward to shore up our Social Security system, and we don't want to offend them.
I am a very staunch supporter of getting our borders under control. I do not want to see between 20 and 30 million Mexican nationals in the U.S. naturalized, so that they can then bring in five family members under chain immigration rules. I take massive offense to the idea that our nation couldn't survive without these people, or that our Social Security system would colapse without them.
Note the second poster said, "...who are paying for your retirement." Okay, who is paying for the retirement of those officials? You and I are, and it's obvious they aren't pandering to us, are they.
No, I believe the post either meant that the illegal flow mustn't be cut off and or that the Social Security system would fail, if we offended Mexico.
Is Mexico paying for our officials retirements? Well, at least not that we know of.
Thanks for asking.
I like Bush especially in the last press news conference, but what is up with his cabinet? Condi wanted a ceasefire and got it, Rummy's Defense Department not firing on Taliban, and now Attorney General Gonzalez doing this. Time for a reorganization of the cabinet.
I don't happen to believe that 97% of the politicans in Washington, D. C. are on the take, although I'm not opposed to the idea that some of them are. I will admit that their votes cast an ominous cloud over their actions. I don't happen to think that the retirements of our elected officials in Washington are as dependent on Mexico's good will as you do. Beyond that, you and I probably agree on a lot more than we disagree.
Your post seemed to imply that "our" retirements depend on the flow of illegal aliens across our borders and I stridently object to that.
Who pays the retirements of our elected officials? You and I do. Are they pandering to us? Hell no. Who pays our retirements? Well, in some quarters it's becoming accepted that the Mexicans are and we better be careful. I'm not buying that for a second. That's why I responded as I did.
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