Life and career
Duane Lee Chapman is an American and was born on February 2, 1953, to Wesley Chapman and Barbara Chapman. He is the eldest of 4 children, having two younger sisters and one brother. A gang member gave him his nickname—"God" spelled backwards.
[4]
In 1972, Dog married LaFonda Sue Honeycutt, and they had two children together: Duane Lee Chapman, II (born 1973) and Leland Blaine Chapman (born 1976).[5]
In 1976, Dog and another gang member were buying marijuana in Texas when the other gang member shot and killed the drug dealer. At the time, "accessory to murder" charges did not exist in Texas, so Dog was charged with murder and sentenced to five years in prison. He served less than two of those years at Texas State Penitentiary. While there, he served as the warden's barber.[6] Dog and Lafonda divorced during this incident, and he did not see his sons for 8 years.
Shortly after Dog was released from prison, he married Anne M. Tegnell in 1979. They had three children together: Zebediah Duane Chapman (born prematurely, January 1, 1980, died January 31, 1980), [7] Wesley Chapman (born 1980) and J.R Chapman (born 1982) who was born after Dog and Tegnell divorced.
Dog then met and married Lyssa Rae Brittian. They married on June 22, 1982. During their marriage they had four children: Barbara Katie Chapman (June 18, 1982 - May 19, 2006), Tucker Dee Chapman, Lyssa Rae Chapman and Nicholas Chapman. They divorced on November 20, 1991.
Soon after this, Dog married Tawny Marie Chapman. This marriage also ended in divorce and they had no children together.
Dog married his fifth wife, Beth Chapman (born October 29, 1967), on May 20, 2006 after 16 years as business and life partners. Dog and Beth met in the late 1980s when Beth was arrested and Chapman was her bail bondsman. [8] Dog and Beth have two children together, Bonnie-Joanne Chapman and Gary Chapman. Beth also has two other children, Cecily Chapman from her previous marriage and Dominic Davis, of whom the state took custody when he was three years old.
Currently, Dog Chapman, Beth Chapman, Leland Chapman, Duane Lee Chapman II and Lyssa Chapman all work together as bail bondsmen and bounty hunters. Their work is the subject of the Dog the Bounty Hunter show, currently in its seventh season on A&E.
Arrest by Mexican government
On June 18, 2003, Chapman made news with his hunt and capture of Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who at the time was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Luster had fled the United States in the middle of his trial for drugging and raping a number of women, and was convicted in absentia on 86 counts including multiple rape charges connected to assaults in 1996, 1997 and 2000.[9] Chapman was assisted by his "hunt team", consisting of his son Leland and family friend Tim Chapman (no relation).[10][dead link] After Luster's jailing, Duane Chapman was interviewed for a documentary which was published on 2009 August 28 by Dominick Dunne on Power, Privilege, and Justice broadcast via the TruTV network.
On September 14, 2006, days before the expiration of the statute of limitations, Chapman, along with his son Leland Chapman and associate Tim Chapman, were arrested by United States Marshals and jailed in Honolulu on behalf of the Mexican government.[11] Mexican authorities had charged all three with deprivation of liberty, involving the 2003 apprehension of Andrew Luster, because they had not handed Luster over to them. After not obtaining permission to leave the country in 2003, the Mexican Government declared Duane, Leland and Tim Chapman, fugitives from justice and tried to get them extradited to Mexico for sentencing. After spending one night in the federal detention center in Honolulu, Chapman told reporters: "The federal marshals treated us with great respect. But let me tell you, you never want to go to a federal prison, because it's terrible."[12]
The next day, September 15, 2006, Chapman appeared in a packed Honolulu courtroom with his ankles shackled.[11] Although the judge agreed that the men were not a flight risk, he ordered that each wear an electronic monitoring device around the ankle.[12] The three men were released on bail ($300,000 for Duane Chapman, $100,000 each for Leland Chapman and Tim Chapman). They were also ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for house arrest.[13]
Beth Chapman was detained and had a hearing after she was caught wearing an A&E body microphone when entering the courthouse for their bond hearing; electronic recording devices are prohibited by law from being carried into federal courthouses.[14] She was released after explaining that she "didn't know they had the mic and transmitter"; the judge was satisfied that no recording was done.[15][16]
Chapman was fighting extradition in September 2006. His lead attorney Brook Hart reportedly planned to argue that although the charge Chapman faced is a misdemeanor in Mexico[citation needed], when translated into English it became a felony (kidnapping) under American law.[13] An extradition hearing was set for November 16, 2006, where both sides were to present evidence and witnesses.[13] Chapman has speculated that his arrest was due in part to a possible prisoner exchange agreement between the Mexican and American authorities. According to Chapman, the federal agents 'sold him out', by trading him in for a convicted Mexican drug lord.[17] Duane, Leland, and Tim had their ankle bracelets removed so they could work.[18]
On October 11, 2006, reports surfaced of an open letter dated September 26, 2006, sent on Chapman's behalf by 29 Republican Congressmen to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The letter stated the authors' opposition to Chapman's extradition and requested that Rice deny Mexico's request for same.[19] Subsequently on October 20, 2006, lawyers for Chapman said that the Mexican federal court had granted them an order that halted the criminal case against the bounty hunter until further evidence and witness testimony were gathered.[20]
A court hearing was held on December 23, 2006. The original hearing was postponed because a report from a lower court was not yet received. The court heard both sides of the story, and then decided to recess. Then court proceedings started on January 16, 2007 and the court had up to Tuesday, February 6, 2007 but the deadline was extended.
On February 16, 2007, a Mexican Federal court cleared the way for Duane Chapman to be extradited, ruling there was no reason not to try him with the charge of deprivation of liberty in Mexico.[21] In response, on February 23, Hawaii State Representatives Gene Ward, Karen Awana, Rida Cabanilla, Lynn Finnegan, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Kymberly Pine, Joe Bertram, Ken Ito, Marylin Lee, and John Mizuno introduced 'House Concurrent Resolution 50', "Requesting the President of Mexico and the Second District Court of Guadalajara to drop extradition charges against TV Bounty Hunter, Duane 'Dog' Chapman".[22] The resolution was passed by the International Affairs committee on March 7.[23]
Chapman, along with his lawyer, William C. Bollard, has appeared on numerous media shows. Some of these include: Larry King Live, Greta Van Susteren, Mark and Mercedez Morning Show on Mix 94.1 KMXB in Las Vegas, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on WFLD, Fox 6 News San Diego, The Glenn Beck Program, and THE 9 on Yahoo!.
Honolulu news outlet KHNL reported on August 1, 2007 that the arrest warrant issued for Chapman and his associates may now be invalidated, as a Mexican court has found that the statute of limitations regarding the arrest has expired. The 15-page legal order was released in Spanish and was translated and verified for legal acuity. The case against the bounty hunters may still be open to legal recourse by Mexican prosecutors.[24]
On August 2, 2007, the First Criminal Court in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, dismissed all criminal charges pending against Duane, Leland and Tim Chapman on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. The order effectively canceled all pending charges. The prosecution appealed the ruling; this is standard practice in Mexico, according to A&E.[25] The prosecution's argument was twofold: first, the Court was rewarding the Chapmans for having evaded capture and fighting extradition, and second, that in the United States the issuance of an arrest warrant tolls the statute of limitations.[citation needed] Had the Mexican rule been applied to Luster, he too would have been let go.[citation needed]
On November 5, 2007, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren dismissed the extradition attempt, saying that even though the cases were appealed, the trio are no longer charged with any offenses.
Racial slur and fall out
In March 2007, during a taped conversation[26] with his son Tucker, Chapman used strong language, including the slur "nigger", when referring to Monique Shinnery, his son's girlfriend.
The audiotape, which Tucker sold to the National Enquirer, was posted online on October 31, 2007, and prompted a coalition of civil rights leaders to call for Chapman's popular Dog the Bounty Hunter show on A&E to be canceled.[27] After the tape was made public, A&E announced it was suspending production for the series pending an investigation.[28][29] Conservative civil rights leader Roy Innis said that Chapman "should not have a show."[29]
On October 31, 2007, Chapman issued a public apology.[30]
On November 2, 2007, A&E announced it was removing the show from their schedule "for the foreseeable future." [31] On the same day Yum Brands announced pulling ad support for the TV series.[32]
On December 21, 2007, Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, one of the first to call the A&E network to have the show taken off the air, met with Alicia Colon of The New York Sun and Chapman. Innis stated for the daily newspaper, "After meeting with him and his wife, Beth, and hearing his side of the story, we realized that the controversy had unjustly spiraled out of control without context." [33]
He went on to say, "Duane has taken ownership of the damage of his words and has taken on the responsibility of being a racial healer for our country... I have been with this man several times and had extensive dialogues with him. I consider him and his wife good friends. Duane is a changed man and has a higher purpose. Popular television is a wasteland of meaningless titillation and degradation. The Dog's potential to take his celebrity and turn it into something redeeming for our culture and society is immense. It is for these reasons that we want his television show back on the air."[33]
On February 19. 2008, A&E announced that the show would return to production.[34]
