Midstate prosecutors seek to reinstate bounty hunter’s criminal trespass conviction

Authorities contend a bail recovery agent for a Macon bondsman used a doggy door to enter a woman’s home in March 2014, to look for a wanted fugitive.

The bounty hunter, David L. Harper, was subsequently charged and convicted of two counts of criminal trespass — one count for damaging the pet door and one count for his entry.

While the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed Harper’s conviction based on the damage to the doggy door, the court reversed the other criminal trespass conviction, saying the woman had not given “express notice not to enter.”

On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear the Bibb County Solicitor’s Office’s argument that Harper’s conviction should be reinstated.

According to court documents:

Tina McDaniel was inside her home on Macon’s Murray Drive on March 12, 2014, when she heard a scream and found Harper on top of Stephen Jeffery Collier, a man Harper’s lawyer contends was McDaniel’s former live-in boyfriend.

Prosecutors allege Harper said he was “Houston County,” leading McDaniel to believe he was a police officer.

Authorities contend Harper had to breach a backyard fence and a locked door to get inside the house. They say Collier didn’t live at the McDaniel home.

The solicitor’s office argues the Court of Appeals’ ruling “essentially creates and recognizes a situation where a person can enter a locked building or home” and not be guilty of criminal trespass because “no one expressly told him not to enter.”

“You can ask any child what a locked door means and they will tell you that it means you cannot go in,” the prosecutors argue. “By locking the door to her residence, any homeowner, like the homeowner in this case, places any and all trespassers on reasonable and explicit notice that entry is prohibited.”

Harper’s attorney, Andrew C. Hall, maintains his client was authorized to enter McDaniel’s home and apprehend the fugitive inside because he was a bail recovery agent.

Hall argues Harper didn’t knowingly break the law. Whether he had a legal right to enter the house or not, he believed he was acting under his authority to apprehend Collier and didn’t intend to commit a crime.

Attempts to reach Hall were unsuccessful Wednesday.

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Midstate prosecutors seek to reinstate bounty hunter’s criminal trespass conviction."