Murder charges raise questions over bounty hunters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The case of seven bounty hunters in Tennessee charged with murder is raising questions about how much power they have and how regulates them.

This combo of booking photos released by the Clarksville, Tenn., Police Department shows, top row from left, William L. Byles, Kenneth Chiasson, Antwon D. Keesee and Jonathan Schnepp; bottom row from left, Roger D. West, Prentice L. Williams and Joshua Young. Tennessee police say the seven bounty hunters and bail bondsmen have been indicted on first-degree murder and other charges in the killing of an unarmed man and the wounding of another. Authorities say 24-year-old Jalen Johnson and another man were wounded April 23, 2017, after the bounty hunters and bail bondsmen confronted Johnson and his three friends in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Clarksville, Tenn. Police said that neither Johnson nor his three friends had outstanding warrants. (Clarksville Police Department via AP)

The National Conference of State Legislatures says that at least 21 states require that bounty hunters be licensed. Tennessee, however, is not one of them.

The seven bounty hunters are facing multiple charges for the violence that left a 24-year-old man dead and another wounded, including first-degree murder and kidnapping.

Court documents say they were looking for someone else when the bounty hunters surrounded a Nissan sedan parked in a Clarksville Wal-Mart parking and blocked it in with their vehicles. They say the bounty hunters opened fire on four men in the car and then chased their vehicle for nearly seven miles.

SHEILA BURKE, Associated Press