Post by Saint on Aug 13, 2003 6:51:27 GMT -5
IN TODAY'S VENTURA COUNTY STAR:
Mexico wants 'Dog' back
Officials issue all-points bulletin for him
By Lorena Moguel, The Associated Press
August 13, 2003
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- State authorities have issued an all-points bulletin for three U.S. bounty hunters who left the country while awaiting trial on criminal charges related to the illegal capture of convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster.
The authorities took action after a judge declared Duane "Dog" Chapman, his son Leland and brother Timothy in violation of their bail, which required them to sign in at court each week, state prosecutor Marco Roberto Juarez said late Monday.
Authorities have issued requests to the National Migration Institute, the federal attorney general's office and Interpol to "first find the men in question, later require their extradition and finally to make them appear and respond to the charges against them," Juarez said.
The Chapmans are charged with criminal association and deprivation of liberty after their unauthorized capture of Luster in this Pacific coast resort city in late June. The charges carry up to eight years in prison.
"We're not running away from nothing," Chapman said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Los Angeles. "As far as I know, we are not in violation of our bail."
In the past, Chapman has said he left Mexico because he feared reprisals. He said it was his understanding that he was not required to return to Mexico, and that it was sufficient for his lawyers to stay in touch with Mexican officials.
Chapman, suffering from laryngitis Tuesday, handed the phone over to Beth Smith, who continued the interview, adding that her husband had been charged only with deprivation of liberty, so "how can they extradite him to a third-world country for a petty misdemeanor?"
"Please pull this back into reality," she said. "We are almost bankrupt because of the capture of Andrew Luster."
Mexican prosecutors argue the bounty hunters should have gone to police instead of snagging Luster themselves. In a further blow, a Ventura County judge ruled last week that Duane Chapman was not entitled to any part of the $1 million bail Luster forfeited when he vanished during his trial in January because Chapman was not acting as a legally authorized bail recovery agent.
Chapman said he had talked to the prosecutor handling the Luster case and understood that he had his approval to go after the fugitive.
Luster was convicted in absentia in California of drugging and raping three women. He was deported after his capture and is now serving a 124-year prison sentence.
Judge Jose de Jesus Pineda has issued conflicting messages throughout the case. When he released the three bounty hunters on bail on June 23, he ordered them to stay in Mexico and sign in at court each week.
Shortly afterward, he said he didn't care where the defendants went six days of the week as long as they showed up each Monday. Still later, Pineda said he didn't need to see the bounty hunters in court, and finally he refused to comment further. The judge was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday on his latest decision.
"The reality is that the Chapmans are in contempt of court, which is why it is necessary that they come back to answer for the crimes they committed here," Juarez said.
Mexico wants 'Dog' back
Officials issue all-points bulletin for him
By Lorena Moguel, The Associated Press
August 13, 2003
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- State authorities have issued an all-points bulletin for three U.S. bounty hunters who left the country while awaiting trial on criminal charges related to the illegal capture of convicted rapist and Max Factor heir Andrew Luster.
The authorities took action after a judge declared Duane "Dog" Chapman, his son Leland and brother Timothy in violation of their bail, which required them to sign in at court each week, state prosecutor Marco Roberto Juarez said late Monday.
Authorities have issued requests to the National Migration Institute, the federal attorney general's office and Interpol to "first find the men in question, later require their extradition and finally to make them appear and respond to the charges against them," Juarez said.
The Chapmans are charged with criminal association and deprivation of liberty after their unauthorized capture of Luster in this Pacific coast resort city in late June. The charges carry up to eight years in prison.
"We're not running away from nothing," Chapman said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Los Angeles. "As far as I know, we are not in violation of our bail."
In the past, Chapman has said he left Mexico because he feared reprisals. He said it was his understanding that he was not required to return to Mexico, and that it was sufficient for his lawyers to stay in touch with Mexican officials.
Chapman, suffering from laryngitis Tuesday, handed the phone over to Beth Smith, who continued the interview, adding that her husband had been charged only with deprivation of liberty, so "how can they extradite him to a third-world country for a petty misdemeanor?"
"Please pull this back into reality," she said. "We are almost bankrupt because of the capture of Andrew Luster."
Mexican prosecutors argue the bounty hunters should have gone to police instead of snagging Luster themselves. In a further blow, a Ventura County judge ruled last week that Duane Chapman was not entitled to any part of the $1 million bail Luster forfeited when he vanished during his trial in January because Chapman was not acting as a legally authorized bail recovery agent.
Chapman said he had talked to the prosecutor handling the Luster case and understood that he had his approval to go after the fugitive.
Luster was convicted in absentia in California of drugging and raping three women. He was deported after his capture and is now serving a 124-year prison sentence.
Judge Jose de Jesus Pineda has issued conflicting messages throughout the case. When he released the three bounty hunters on bail on June 23, he ordered them to stay in Mexico and sign in at court each week.
Shortly afterward, he said he didn't care where the defendants went six days of the week as long as they showed up each Monday. Still later, Pineda said he didn't need to see the bounty hunters in court, and finally he refused to comment further. The judge was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday on his latest decision.
"The reality is that the Chapmans are in contempt of court, which is why it is necessary that they come back to answer for the crimes they committed here," Juarez said.