The incredible story of struggle, redemption, and bounty hunting--which has catapulted Duane "Dog" Chapman into the hearts of millions, sparked a #1 rated television show, and inspired a #1
New York Times bestselling book--continues in
Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given.
"Who is going to give them the ride, Duane Who will give them the cigarette and who will give them `the talk'"
When the preacher posed those questions to me, I realized he was right. If not me, then who Whether I had planned it or not, I was leading a backseat ministry, one ride at a time.
--from Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given
Considered by many to be the world's greatest bounty hunter, Duane "Dog" Chapman has become famous for capturing fugitives on Dog the Bounty Hunter, his #1 rated show on A&E.
But his job doesn't end when he cuffs his man--or woman.
Having personally struggled against abuse, addition, and a life of crime, Dog knows a thing or two about the path that these fugitives cuffed in the back of his car are on--and he has a good idea of the bad news they'll find at the end of it. As someone who has succeeded in beating the odds and finding a way to live on the right side of the law, Dog also knows what the person in the backseat needs to hear in order to straighten out his or her life.
"This is your wake up call. You either answer it now, or pay for it later and for the rest of your life. You're being given another shot at things, but only if you take the risk to make the right decision. The choice is yours. What's it going to be, brotha"
While he is himself a mentor to many, Dog draws strength from the great teachers in his own life to face the surprising and difficult challenges that have come his way. Through hard work, unflinching faith, and the acknowledgment of his own flaws--along with the overwhelming desire to fix those flaws--Dog has been through the fire again and again, and come out the stronger for it.
Revealing, behind-the-scenes looks at Dog's most significant challenges, along with seat-of-your-pants accounts of his most breakneck bounty hunting stories, makes Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given a must-read for any fan.
Where Mercy Is Shown Mercy Is Given
By DUANE "DOG" CHAPMAN Laura MortonHYPERION
Copyright © 2010 Dog TBH, Corporation
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4013-2371-4Chapter One
October 31, 2007
Duane, Duane. Big Daddy, wake up. You're dreaming again." Beth gently shook me as she often does when I have a nightmare. It took me a second to realize I was safe.
Hell, it took me a second to realize that I was still alive.
I'd been having a lot of bad dreams lately. I get scared once in a while, especially when things are going good. I was enjoying the success of my first book, You Can Run, but You Can't Hide, which debuted number one on the New York Times bestseller list. The charges against me in Mexico for the capture of Andrew Luster were about to be dropped, and my show on A&E was enjoying great success. When things are going like that, I often wonder if I will wake up someday and realize it was all a dream.
There's some deep hidden fear inside me that all of my hard work and perseverance don't mean squat-that it could go away in the flash of a moment. When I let my thoughts go there, I try to snap myself out of it so I don't dwell on the negative, but rather focus on the positive-all the good things in my life that surround me. Ever since I went to prison in Mexico, I've frequently had terrible dreams of doing bad things like robbing a bank or, worse, killing someone. When I wake up after having one of those dreams, I have to remind myself, You didn't commit that felony. It was only a dream. You're the Dog! You don't kill people, you help them. It'll be OK.
Thankfully, I didn't kill Magic that day in Boulder, but I could have. What actually happened was that I did take a shot at him, but I purposely shot too low. I missed the front of his bike by an eighth of an inch. I saw my bullet ricochet off the pavement. I don't know why I pulled my gun at all, but I guess I just wanted to show off. Or maybe I wanted Magic to know he couldn't ... or shouldn't mess with me.
I didn't want anyone to know I had chickened out and purposely missed, because that went against everything I was as a Disciple. The Lord was right. There is a fine line between success and failure. I walked it for years. I have been to the edge many times, but I'm no killer. Never was, never will be. Even so, ever since Mexico, I keep having those dreams and they scare the living hell out of me.
For those of you who might not know about the Andrew Luster situation, here's a quick overview of what happened. In the summer of 2003, Tim "Youngblood" Chapman, my son Leland, and I went to Mexico to track down Andrew Luster, the heir to the Max Factor family fortune. Luster was arrested in 2000 suspected of eighty-seven counts of rape and was standing trial in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles.
Luster was considered a wealthy playboy who spent his days surfing off the beaches of Southern California and his nights partying at his beachfront home or college bars in Santa Barbara. He was a complete womanizer with $31 million in the bank to support his party-boy lifestyle.
Beth and I were flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles on January 5, 2003, when twenty minutes into the flight Beth woke me up to show me the headline from the Los Angeles Times:
HEIR TO MAX FACTOR FORTUNE MAY HAVE JUMPED MILLION-DOLLAR BAIL
By the time our plane landed in L.A., Luster was officially on the run. He failed to show up for his court date. He had removed his court-ordered ankle monitor two days prior and hadn't been heard from since. By the time we deplaned, he'd been declared a fugitive and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
We knew finding Luster would be a challenge, which made hunting him all the more interesting. Beth took the reins to make sure we did everything by the book. She also was intent on seeing to it that we all really understood who we were chasing. We viewed Luster to be an arrogant, rude, opinionated, and egotistical punk. But we had to be careful because his family was rich and powerful, which meant they had friends in high places.
To find a fugitive, you have to think and act like him. You have to understand his needs, desires, strengths, and weaknesses. You have to know everything about the person you're looking for. Who is he? Who is his family? Who are his friends? Where does he hang out? More information means greater insight into the mind of the man you're chasing.
On January 15, 2003, Andrew Luster was charged with flight to avoid prosecution. That put him on the FBI's Most Wanted list. It also made him "Dog's Most Wanted." I went up to Ventura County Court to get a copy of the warrant. I told the court clerk who I was and said, "I'm the guy who is going to capture Andrew Luster." As charming as I thought I was, she told me to wait in the corridor while she went to talk to Judge Riley, the judge who was presiding over the case. When she came back, she handed me a copy of the warrant, Luster's mug shots, and a personal message from the judge.
"He said, 'Good luck,' Dog."
On February 18, 2003, a jury found Andrew Luster guilty of eighty-six of the eighty-seven criminal charges against him. The jury was deadlocked on one count of poisoning. These convictions were enough to get Luster 124 years in jail and he was sentenced in absentia.
By the time he was convicted, Luster had been on the run for more than a month. He might have changed his appearance and begun living under a new identity. He could have been thousands of miles away or right under my nose. I had no idea where he was, but I knew I would find him.
Months of research and investigation went by before all signs pointed me toward Mexico. I took a giant leap of faith, as did my son Leland and Tim "Youngblood" Chapman, and we headed for the border. On June 18, 2003, we finally got our guy in Puerto Vallarta.
I wrestled him to the ground, cuffed him, stood up, and said, "You are under arrest in the name of the United States government and Mexico!"
We took Luster into custody so that we could hand him over to the Mexican police. The station was only a couple blocks away from where we'd captured that son of a bitch. On the way, we were pulled over by the Mexican police and ordered to get out of our truck. I didn't want to move. I had the fugitive in my grips, and nothing was going to stop me from handing him over to the proper authorities-nothing, except a bunch of Mexican police officers pointing machine guns at me.
I tried to explain that I was Dog Chapman and the man in custody was Andrew Luster, who was wanted in America. When they asked Luster his name, he replied, "David Carrera." That was the name he'd been living under while he was on the run. Luster started speaking Spanish. He told the police officers we had kidnapped him, that he was the victim.
I knew this couldn't be good. As they began to uncuff him, I pleaded with the officers, telling them they were making a huge mistake. They took us all to the station to get confirmation of the story. Despite Luster's story being bogus, the authorities decided to throw Leland, Tim, and me in a cell until our story could be verified.
I had walked out of the Texas State Penitentiary almost a quarter century earlier. I promised God I would never go back to jail. From the moment I left Huntsville, having served eighteen months on a bunk murder-one rap, I had dedicated myself to living a good clean life. No more crimes. My number one purpose as a bounty hunter has been to serve truth and...
