Fatal shooting: Company says bounty hunter wasn't working for them

A Clarksville bonding company says an employee charged with murder was not working on their behalf the night Jalen Johnson Milan was killed, and they are now raising questions about what led to the fatal shooting.

They argue the employee had been working as part of a "bounty hunter association" on the morning of April 23, when Milan, 24, was shot to death in a car with a group of other men.

Seven men, all bondsmen or bounty hunters, were later indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury on multiple charges including first-degree murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and using firearms during a felony.

More: Bounty hunters arrested in mistaken identity slaying of Jalen Johson

Milan's mother, Anita Diane Jenkins, filed a lawsuit against the seven men and the owners of Keesee Bonding Co. and Eagle Bonding.

More: Lawsuit: Bounty hunters rushed car with guns drawn

But lawyers for Eagle Bonding, filed an answer to that lawsuit, claiming its bondsman, Jonathan Schnepp, was not working on its behalf in the hours leading up to the shooting, and claims it is "wishful thinking" that led Jenkins' lawyers to sue the company.

Bondsman or bounty hunter?

Schnepp and the six others were looking for a different man, William Harvey Ellis, on April 23 when they met a car in the parking lot of the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Whitfield Road, according to the lawsuit.

The bondsmen and bounty hunters opened fire on the car, hitting Milan and another man inside, and then followed the car on a chase that lasted about seven miles, the suit clams.

Police said Ellis was not in the car.

Eagle Bonding's lawyer claims Keesee Bonding, not Eagle, had posted bond for Ellis and that Schnepp, a part-time employee, would have been working "outside the scope of employment" when he agreed to help the other bondsmen and bounty hunters round him up.

"Eagle Bonding LLC and (owner) Marie Runion never requested, directed or authorized defendant, Jonathan Schnepp, to act as a bounty hunter in regard to locating and apprehending William Ellis, and the events leading up to (Milan's) untimely death," the company claims.

More: Lawmaker to push bounty hunting crackdown after fatal shooting

Eagle Bonding claims that it employed Schnepp as a bondsman, who can write bonds, but not as a bounty hunter, who can round up clients who missed court.

If Schnepp agreed to help the other men, it was not something the company approved of or knew about, according to court documents.

Instead, the attorney argued, the men formed their own "bounty hunter association."

"Prior to the untimely death of Jalen J. Johnson, aka Jalen L. Milan, the defendants, William L. Byles, Kenneth Chaisson, Antwon D. Keesee, Jonathan Schnepp, Roger D. West, Prentice L. Williams and Joshua Young, formed a bounty hunter association organized and designed to locate, identify and apprehend criminally charged people who failed to meet their court-designated appearance dates," according a court brief filed by Eagle Bonding's attorney.

"The practice and profession of a bounty hunter is acutely different and opposite of the duties of a bondsman."

The lawsuit

The brief, filed Wednesday, accuses Milan's mother and attorneys of using the media, the indictments and law enforcement to file a "false, frivolous and meritless lawsuit."

Schnepp also filed an answer to the lawsuit, claiming he was employed by Eagle Bonding but acted under the direction of Antwon Keesee "and reasonably relied on his (Keesee's) representations regarding the identity of any parties in the vehicle."

He denies rushing the vehicle with a firearm or ever opening fire on the vehicle with a gun.

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Eagle Bonding's attorney submitted a list of questions to Jenkins' attorney that could shed light on what the defendants say happened that night.

The questions suggest that Jonathan Schnepp was carrying a Taser, not a handgun, and that the car Milan was in tried to hit Schnepp, causing his Taser to fire. They also suggest that police found cartridges at the scene that didn't come from the bounty hunters' guns, and that Milan was a gang member who had had several run-ins with police.

Jenkins' attorneys responded to Eagle Bonding's questions by objecting they are too "vague and ambiguous."

A court date has been set for Oct. 10.

Betty Keesee, who is also named in the lawsuit, filed an answer claiming she is retired and that other family members were operating Keesee Bonding.

All seven bondsmen and bounty hunters have been removed from the list of approved bondsmen in Montgomery County.

More: Bondsmen in fatal shooting shut down by DA in Clarksville

Reach Reporter Stephanie Ingersoll at singersoll@theleafchronicle.com or 931-245-0267 and on Twitter @StephLeaf