Glenn Strickland, head of the Harris County Bail Bond Board, said bounty hunters — a colloquial term — are often used to track down elusive people whom they have freed for a price. Some are former law enforcement, he said. Catherine Torrez, president of the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators, said bounty hunters must be licensed with the state.
Some require security training if they carry a weapon. While paying respects at a memorial outside of NRG Park, some attendees raised more questions about the chaotic scene not even 48 hours prior. Most Popular. She screamed to her husband. The armed man continued shooting — about four gunshots total. Charges against the bounty hunter are pending the decision of a Harris County grand jury.
He prefers his investigators to not use lethal weapons. Laura Duclos and Gabrielle Banks contributed. Rockets look to remedy inability to finish tight games. It documents approximately 50 more minutes of body camera footage that has neither been played in court nor released to the public. The footage does not include regular time stamping, but does capture the discussion between officers about who the shooter is and what authority a bounty hunter does or doesn't have within minutes of Spann being shot.
Right before Spann was shot, Arden had deployed his Taser but it failed to fully incapacitate Spann. What came next was the focus of two days of testimony to determine if the case against Herrera would go to trial. However, both attorneys and the judge debated during the preliminary hearing if Arden said after firing the Taser: "Got 'em," "drop 'em," "drop it" or something phonetically similar.
Within two seconds of Arden saying "shoot," according to the body cam time counter, a single shot can be heard as the officers turn and retreat down the stairs. Raj Maline, Herrera's defense attorney, has argued that his client fired the lethal shot at the command of Arden. Two days of testimony repeatedly touched on the question of what Arden meant when he said "shoot" after his taser caused Spann only to stumble, and what authority the bounty hunters did or didn't have in light of the statement.
Clicke here: To view the whole transcript. While CPR was being administered to Spann while prone in the second-floor hallway, one officer, not identified in the transcripts, asked who "the fugitive folks" were. However, Riverside County Sheriff Investigator Jarred Bishop has testified during the preliminary hearing that Kramer and Arden told him they believed Herrera was a cop when they arrived at Spann's home in the middle of the standoff.
Bishop and another investigator testified that Herrera was wearing boots, pants and a tactical vest very similar to those worn by county deputies. At several points in the transcripts, which continue until about 25 minutes after Spann was shot, the "fugitives" or "fugitive folks" are mentioned, amid other conversation about emergency medical measures and a device that was found on the first floor that officers thought could have been an explosive.
Later, according to her transcript, Kramer said: "I didn't know that they could just enter like that. Herrera and Vargas forced entry into Spann's home by smashing his door in with a sledgehammer, according to court testimony, after Herrera attempted to kick in the door, gun in hand, with no apparent warning or request to enter.
An officer not identified in the transcripts of the videos responds: " They don't have to, you know, abide by the Fourth Amendment like, like we do. If they see him inside, they can force entry.
And he probably peeked through the window The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure and requires that a warrant be established on probable cause. As a result, Moore said that the botched arrest attempt amounted to attempted kidnapping and Spann's death, a murder during the commission of a felony. California law requires that a person can force entry into a home if they suspect someone committed a felony, only after demanding and being denied entry. Spann was charged with a misdemeanor; there was no warrant for his arrest and his bail had not been forfeited by a judge.
His arrest had been ordered earlier in the day by Justice Bail Bonds of Temecula, and sent to Herrera to carry out, for an alleged violation of his bail contract.
The Palm Springs police body camera footage released to the public by the Riverside County Superior Court Wednesday sheds light on what transpired in the confrontation that resulted in the death of one man and murder charges for two bounty hunters. The footage shows the two Palm Springs officers arriving at Spann's condo at a.
What exactly was said during this call was debated during testimony given at Herrera's preliminary hearing. Specifically, the attorneys questioned witnesses about whether Herrera's word choice on the call could have led the department to believe he was law enforcement.
The call tapes were not played. Then Spann called police at a. Minutes later, Ring Alarm, the manufacturer of the doorbell camera that captured the footage, contacted the department to report a panic alarm. A Palm Springs police sergeant then attempted to call Herrera, but he didn't pick up. Then Herrera called the sergeant, saying he had a knife-wielding Spann at gunpoint and was in need of assistance.
Within minutes, two police officers, Rhett Arden and Emmi Kramer, arrived at the scene. Body camera footage from both officers was played during Herrera's preliminary hearing.
In the footage, the two officers arrived at Spann's complex and used a police key ring to open the gate leading to a parking area. They ran around the building to the condo's entrance; body-camera footage showed them step through a destroyed front door, and a sledgehammer can be seen on the concrete nearby. They quickly located Herrera on the stairs leading to the condo's second story, gun pointed at Spann, who could be heard on the bodycam footage screaming for them to get out of his house.
Arden and Kramer can be heard in the footage asking Spann about the knife Herrera said he had. Spann, standing in the doorway of a bathroom clothed only in boxer shorts, continued to demand they get out of his home, the bodycam footage showed; he appeared to have a knife in his hand. Arden, a seven-year veteran of the Palm Springs police, asked Spann to drop the knife then said he was going to use his Taser on him. A sheriff's department investigator testified that Arden was asking or telling Herrera to have his firearm ready should the Taser fail to incapacitate Spann.
A gunshot can be heard, but the footage played in court did not capture Spann being struck by a bullet as the officers retreated down the stairs after the Taser was used. Following the shooting, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department took on the role of the investigating agency.
Investigators found Herrera had proof that he completed classes required for him to work as a bounty hunter. What they didn't immediately know, investigators would later testify, was that Herrera wasn't a licensed bail agent, but a twice-convicted felon and was not allowed to possess the firearm he had in hand while he attempted to kick in Spann's door. Herrera was booked into jail the day after the shooting, while Vargas was released, only to be arrested about a month later.
The sheriff's department has not said publicly why Vargas was initially released from custody. His investigation into whether they are criminally culpable for the shooting remains open. Neither officer has been charged, and both returned to duty after about a week of administrative leave following Spann's shooting.
Bishop testified that both officers said they believed Herrera was a cop when they arrived at the condo. Herrera's forced entry into Spann's home for a misdemeanor bond and the murder charge that followed are among several aspects of the botched arrest attempt that have bail industry experts watching the case closely — including Rob Dick, who taught Herrera's bail agent prelicensing course.
While Dick declined to comment directly on Herrera's case, he did give The Desert Sun an overview of the laws regulating the industry, the same material he provided in a lesson to Herrera during the course in According to Dick, people with felony convictions cannot arrest bail fugitives unless they have been granted a bail agent license by the California Department of Insurance.
The department has the discretion to grant a bail agent license to someone with a criminal history on a case-by-case basis. Dick said that those considering taking his class at Bail Education Association, based near Sacramento, occasionally ask him about what consequences a felony conviction might have on their prospective careers in the bail industry. The power to arrest is how bail agencies protect their interests. Bail agencies essentially act as a guarantor that a person released on bail will appear in court when they're supposed to.
The bail agency then provides a guarantee to the court for the full amount of the bail. If a defendant out on bail fails to appear in court on the appointed date, a judge can issue a warrant for their arrest.
The law does allow bail agents to arrest defendants without a judge's approval if they have violated the terms of their bail agreements and the bail agency believes they pose a substantial risk of flight. In other words, arrest them before the clock starts ticking.
You're out of jail on a string.
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