New bounty hunter law stems from Palm Springs incident

A new law that tightens the restrictions on how someone becomes a bounty hunter went into effect on July 1, 2023. This law was created in part after an incident in Palm Springs where a man was shot and killed by someone who is accused of illegally working as a bounty hunter.

The new law now requires training, certification, insurance liability, and education for those wanting to become a bounty hunter in California.

The bill was originally introduced by Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer who represents District 57 in Los Angeles.

This is a full statement sent to News Channel 3 from Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer on the law:

The Spann family should’ve never experienced the tragedy of losing their loved one – not only was the bounty hunter illegally operating in California, but the bounty hunter was also in illegal possession of a firearm due to his prior felony convictions.

My bill, AB 2043, ensures long-overdue oversight of the bail bond industry and provides greater consumer protections for harmed members of the public by requiring all involved in the bounty hunter industry, including the bail bond companies, to meet certain standards to operate in California. This includes training, certification, bonding (insurance liability), and education before they can obtain a license to operate in our state.

This ensures a better informed and qualified individual is working in public reducing any potential harm to defendants, the public, and themselves.

David Spann was shot and killed in April 2021. The man accused of killing him is Fabian Hector Herrera, who is also being accused of being an unlicensed bail agent at the time of the shooting.

Palm Springs Police released bodycam footage of the incident just over a year after it happened. The footage shows how the shooting unfolded.

Related Story: New body cam video shows police confusion after deadly unlicensed bail agent shooting

Since the incident, the Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) has changed its guidelines on how it responds to calls for assistance from bounty hunters.

“If we were to go out there, we had to request that we weren’t going to assist them in a backup capacity in the same respect if there was an active warrant for that subject," explained Lieutenant Gustavo Araiza with PSPD. "We can make the decision to potentially take that person into custody, transport them to the county jail, and at that point just notify the bail bondsmen that they were apprehended.”

Lieutenant Araiza said before this shooting there were no guidelines on how police officers were to handle these kinds of calls.

There is currently a lawsuit against the police department filed by David Spann's family. The victim's brother Bill Spann told News Channel 3 that had these guidelines and laws already been in effect a long time ago, his brother would still be alive today. He applauds the new bounty hunter law now in effect.

“The bill really is something that should have been introduced a long time ago so it wasn’t just a wild west out in California," Bill said.

Herrera is currently in jail awaiting trial.