DOCUMENT: Crime

Chapman Wants Out of U.S. Doghouse

Lawyer: Bounty hunter who jumped bail in Mexico deserves bail here

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Chapman Wants Out of U.S. Doghouse

SEPTEMBER 15--Duane 'Dog' Chapman--father of 12, born-again Christian, reality TV star, and current Bureau of Prisons ward--is deserving of bail, in part, because the Mexican government 'unreasonably delayed' its efforts to extradite the bounty hunter on charges that he illegally detained a bail jumper in 2003, according to a court motion filed today by Chapman's lawyer. Chapman was arrested yesterday by federal agents at the request of Mexican authorities, who previously charged Chapman and two associates with illegally capturing Andrew Luster, then a defendant in a California rape case, in Puerto Vallarta in June 2003. Chapman, a convicted felon who has made a career of apprehending fugitives, himself has been wanted in Mexico since he failed to appear for a court hearing shortly after his 2003 arrest (he was nabbed back then with son Leland and a third bounty hunter). In today's bail motion, a copy of which you'll find below, lawyer Brook Hart contends that Mexico waited 38 months to act on arrest warrants for the three men, surmising that the foreign officials acted now because 'the statutory limitations period was due to expire in October of 2006.' Brook requested that a paltry aggregate bail of no more than $100,000 be set for the trio, since Chapman, in particular, was an 'internationally known figure' who has a 'very distinctive appearance' that would make it impossible for him to flee and avoid recognition. A bail hearing is scheduled for later today in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. A concise description of the trio's Mexican escapade is contained in a September 13 arrest complaint filed against Leland Chapman (similar complaints were lodged against his two co-defendants). The arrest document notes that as Luster was being stuffed into a car by the bounty hunters, Duane Chapman announced, 'You can never escape from the Dog.' (17 pages)