County
Bounty Hunters Not Off The Hook
April 30, 2015 
While the Bonneville County prosecutor has declined to file any criminal charges in connection with the March shooting of Phillip Clay by a bounty hunter, the potential of other charges still exist.
“We will not file anything relating to the shooting, but all other aspects of the investigation are still on the table,” according to Chief Deputy Prosecutor James Murdock.
At issue are allegations of impersonating a police officer and possibly performing traffic stops. Bondsmen and bail companies are regulated by the Idaho Dept. of Insurance.
Clay was wanted on charges of absconding from Ada County where he was to stand trial on drug charges. His bond of $100,000 has been forfeited by court order since he did not appear for trial…due to his death.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Apr 30, 2015, 2:22 pm
These guys need to have their jewels racked!
And, why should we trust police officers??
Apr 30, 2015, 4:29 pm
Actually, Steve allow me to follow up on your comment. Can you be specific as to why we should NOT trust cops? And please, the recent rioting and media hype is not a viable argument. Do you know something we here in this city don’t know?
EDITOR NOTE–This comment and the previous comment are off topic. We have deleted 5 comments from two readers who have taken up space damning coppers. The story is about bounty hunters, bondsmen, impersonating law enforcement, and a recent homicide which has been ruled “justified.” It is not a chance to vent about police. Blaskowitz, please troll somewhere else if you want to pick a fight. You can have “paid leave” for now.
Apr 30, 2015, 9:20 pm
I think the FBI should be involved in this… and would be in a bigger city or more liberal State… Or if the dead guy was black.
May 1, 2015, 8:43 am
And, why is the local prosecutor not taking this more seriously??? Let me just guess: Prosecutorial discretion? Or, should I say, “Abuse of prosecurorial discretion (business as usual for prosecutors)???
May 1, 2015, 11:08 am
Interesting. So then delete my comment along with the others then instead of lecturing me and accusing me of something. Consider this permanent leave…they are right. This site is a joke.
May 1, 2015, 11:19 am
Often these bounty hunters can’t be cops because of a history of drugs and other problems, so they look elsewhere to get their adrenaline hype. So thank you to our Cops, who have some good standards in recruitment which prevents these people from being police.
One only need to watch one episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter to know the industry is the bottom of the barrel (bounty hunters) feeding off the bottom of the barrel (the people bounty hunters seek). Dog the Bounty Hunter is a good example, in 1976 he was convicted of first degree murder, he is barred from ever entering the UK, owning a firearm and extremely ironic for a guy who chases bail jumpers, Dog jumped his own bail after his arrest and release on bail in Mexico from what was essentially an illegal kidnapping in Mexico.
Seems to me it is people with a criminal past chasing current criminals. Hardly an effort to glorify, nor would I grant a bounty hunter any degree of legitimacy.
We tend to allow bounty hunters to be crap, since they take out the crap and deal with crap.
May 1, 2015, 5:28 pm
JJ:
Permit me to slightly rephrase your last sentence:
We tend to allow some authoritarian figures to be crap, because they take out the crap and deal with crap.
But, that should not lead us to tolerate and condone abuses, and especially repeated abuses of power and authority.
May 16, 2015, 3:32 pm
No you can’t trust the authorities to do the right thing:
https://www.aclu.org/feature/meet-prison-profiteers
Aug 5, 2015, 10:22 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/bounty-hunter-arrested-mistaking-phoenix-police-chief-target-015741595.html