MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge dismissed an aggravated burglary charge against a bounty hunter accused of breaking into a house and handcuffing a bail jumper at gunpoint, saying state law doesn’t address whether bondsmen can hire unlicensed bounty hunters.
The Missoulian reports District Judge Dusty Deschamps dismissed the charge against Vaness Baker last week and ruled Baker’s defense will be able to submit a jury instruction on the use of “reasonable force in arresting a fugitive” when he faces trial on charges of assault with a weapon.
Deschamps said the bail jumper had agreed as part of his contract with the bondsman that he or his agents had a right to arrest him at any time if he didn’t show up for court.
Deschamps’s order urged the state Legislature to set regulations for bounty hunters.
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Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com