Tennessee Archives – Hard Boiled News

CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee — Seven bounty hunters were charged with first degree murder for fatally shooting an innocent, unarmed man in a wild chase in Tennessee after they mistook him for a wanted fugitive.

Police say 24-year-old Jalen Johnson was killed and another man wounded when the bounty hunters descended upon a car they were in with two others in a Walmart parking lot on April 23.

Investigators say none of the men in the car were the person the bounty hunters were looking for and that Johnson, a father of three, was unarmed and had done nothing wrong.

The men took off in their vehicle after the bounty hunters opened fire. They gave chase for seven miles, ramming the vehicle and continuing to fire. The gunfire left Johnson dead and wounded a second passenger, cops said.

Johnson’s uncle, Toni Jenkins, told The Associated Press that his nephew and the others in the car thought they were being attacked by gang members, causing them to flee.

Bail bondsmen have the authority to hire or act as bounty hunters to bring in bail jumpers, but they can only use deadly force unless in self-defense.

The men charged include: William L. Byles, 31; Kenneth Chiasson, 38; Antwon D. Keesee, 32; Jonathan Schnepp, 31; Roger D. West, 31; Prentice L. Williams, 34 and Joshua Young, 27.

They face a charge of first-degree felony murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated assault, employing a firearm in commission of a dangerous felony and felony reckless endangerment, police said.

Five of the six men were recaptured quickly, but the sixth man, David Wayne Frazier (top center), the hardest criminal of the bunch, remains at large

NEWPORT, Tennessee — Six hardened criminals pulled off a Christmas Day breakout from a Tennessee jail, crawling out through a busted toilet in a scene straight out of the film, “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Investigators say the men managed to escape from the Cocke County Jail in the early morning hours of Christmas morning by tearing a toilet away from a wall.

“The inmates escaped after a water leak occurred behind a wall unit stainless steel toilet,” the Cocke County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Apparently the bolts holding the unit rusted out and there was prior damage to the concrete due to plumbing repairs. The inmates vandalized the lavatory removing it from the wall and gained access to a hole which led outside of the facility,”

Most of the men didn’t get very far.

Authorities say Steven Lewis, 37, was quickly nabbed after a foot chase and John Mark Speir, 38, was captured at a nearby home. Two men, Jarred Schoondermarks, 30, and Daniel Speir, 29, were charged with harboring a fugitive.

Two other inmates, Eric Click and Harce Wade Allen, were captured the following day. Police say Allen was taken into custody by undercover narcotics officers. Later that day, a fifth inmate,

John Shehee, turned himself in after his father convinced him to give himself up.

The sixth man, David Wayne Frazier, 54, is considered to be the most dangerous of the group, and was awaiting trial on aggravated robbery and weapons charges.

Bounty Hunters Charged In Fatal Killing of Innocent Man Mistaken for a Fugitive

Six Tennessee Inmates Break Out of Prison Through Busted Toilet