Dog the Bounty Hunter arrested

[9/19/06] HOW HAPPY would the United States be if some bounty hunter from Mexico named "El Perro" came across the border and started dragging Mexican rapists and killers back into Mexico? We'd give him a medal and urge him to keep up the good work.

So when our "perro," our "Dog," went into Mexico and dragged an American scumbag rapist out of that country and brought him back to the United States, you'd think the government of Mexico would thank us for cleaning up our own messes.

But no. Instead they demand bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman be extradited to Mexico to face kidnapping charges. How screwed up is that?


[9/16/06] A federal magistrate judge let the "Dog" out yesterday to the delight of his fans who packed the courtroom at his detention hearing.

Duane "Dog" Chapman, star of the reality TV show "Dog the Bounty Hunter," was released to home detention on $300,000 bail yesterday. Chapman had been held since his arrest Thursday by federal agents for his extradition to Mexico.

Federal Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren allowed Chapman to continue his bail bond business and filming his TV show in Hawaii while not in house detention. He also ordered Chapman to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Brook Hart, another Chapman attorney, argued there were special circumstances that should allow his clients to go free. He said the Mexican government sought extradition three years after the Chapmans left Mexico. Hart said it is questionable whether the crime Chapman is accused of is a crime in the United States. This would mean he cannot be extradited for the Mexican crime, Hart said.

Hart said Chapman was charged with unlawful restraint of liberty or false imprisonment but not kidnapping.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Johnson argued that the Chapmans subjected themselves to the laws of Mexico when they sought Luster, never knowing that bounty hunting was illegal there.

Kurren told Johnson that "in the spectrum of cases, it really is on the lower end."

[9/15/06] The "Dog" spent last night in the federal pound.

Duane "Dog" Chapman, the well-known bounty hunter made even more famous by his A&E reality show, was arrested yesterday at his Portlock Road residence in connection with his June 2003 capture of convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Also arrested in different locations were his son Leland and partner, Timothy Chapman.

Honolulu attorney Brook Hart, who represented all three yesterday at an initial appearance in U.S. District Court, said the Chapmans are alleged to have violated Mexican law that prohibits the capture of fugitives by persons not authorized under Mexican law. The Mexican government is seeking to extradite the trio.

[Doesn't have the Mexican government have better things to do?]