The Mandalorian is the story of a bounty hunter in the Outer Rim who is no stranger to using lethal force. Is it lawful for a bounty hunter to kill?
As a preliminary matter, many states have stopped using the term “bounty hunter.” In California, such as individual is a “bail fugitive recovery person,” who has extensive statutory requirements, including having both bail and private investigator licenses. CA Penal Code § 1299.02. Other requirements include having proper documentation before apprehending a bail fugitive; must not represent themselves as being with law enforcement; and provide at least six hours of notice to local law enforcement that they are going to apprehend a bail fugitive, absent exigent circumstances. CA Penal Code §§ 1299.05; 1299.06; 1299.07; and1299.08.
There are two big requirements: bail fugitive recovery persons cannot forcibly enter a premise or carry a weapon unless in compliance with state laws. CA Penal Code §§ 1299.09 and 1299.10.
In arguendo that the Mandalorian was in compliance with California gun laws, could a bounty hunter shoot a bail jumper? In a Connecticut case that asked whether warning shots could be fired at a fleeing bail jumper, the answer is “no.” The Court explained, “A bounty hunter’s legal right to seize and hold does not automatically authorize the use of force…” McGibony v. Danaher, No. CV094020419S, 2009 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2609, at *7 (Super. Ct. Oct. 1, 2009).
That is not the end of the analysis. In the first episode of The Mandalorian, there was a fight with a human and a Quarren. The elements of the confrontation include the Mandalorian entering the cantina, not saying anything, and walking up to the bar. The two assailants surround the Mandalorian with claims the Mandalorian spilled the human’s drink when the Mandalorian entered the cantina. The human struck his knife across the Mandalorian’s chest armor and asked if the armor was real Beskar. This contact is technically battery, because the contact was a “willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.” Cal. Pen. Code § 242.
The contact of the knife against the armor was the moment the Mandalorian responded to the physical battery upon his person. This triggered classic self-defense analysis. The Mandalorian could have reasonably believed he was in immediate danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm, because he was surrounded and a knife had made contact with his person; The Mandalorian reasonably believed the use of force was needed to defend himself; and the Mandalorian used no more force than was necessary to defend against the danger. The human assailant was subdued with the use of force, but lethal force was not used on the Quarren until he fired a blaster at the Mandalorian. See, 1 CALCRIM 505 (2018). All of the Mandalorian’s actions were proportional to the threats he faced during the altercation.
Now, we don’t exactly know what Sub Paragraph 16 of the Boadsmen’s Guild Protocol Waiver says exactly, but it is hard to imagine that giving IG-11 a license to storm a stronghold by force…
