Bounty hunter ‘Dog’ shakes off Mexican charges

HONOLULU (AP) — Duane “Dog” Chapman cannot be extradited to Mexico to face criminal charges in his capture of serial rapist and fugitive Andrew Luster in 2003, a three-judge panel in Mexico has ruled.

The unanimous ruling was handed down Tuesday. The TV bounty hunter, his son Leland Chapman and associate Tim Chapman faced being sent to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, where they captured Luster, who had jumped a $1 million bond on charges that he drugged and raped three women.

“He’s a free man,” Chapman’s San Francisco-based attorney, James A. Quadra, said in a telephone interview late Tuesday. “They can’t reinstate any criminal charges and as a result of that, there’s no basis for them to then seek extradition.”

Luster’s disappearance during his trial in California set off an international manhunt by police, FBI and bounty hunters trying to recoup some of the bond money. After his capture, he was taken back to the U.S. to serve a 124-year prison sentence.

Because bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, prosecutors in that country charged the trio with kidnapping and asked U.S. authorities to arrest Chapman and his colleagues and send them to Mexico.

“The three of them — Duane, Leland and Tim — have always been absolutely certain they did the right thing and proud of what they accomplished,” Quadra said.

A judge in Mexico dismissed the kidnapping charges in July, ruling prosecutors had taken too long in their attempts to bring the trio to trial. But Mexican prosecutors appealed the ruling.

“We are ecstatic that this nightmare is finally over, and happy to see the Mexican justice system works,” Chapman and his wife, Beth, said in a statement. “We can all now move forward.”