Per The Sun, Dog the Bounty Hunter first got into trouble with the law as a member of a biker gang. While Dog was waiting in a car, his friend accidentally shot and killed a 69-year-old alleged pimp and drug dealer named Jerry Oliver, according to the Sun. As the outlet notes, Dog wasn't directly involved in the drug-related altercation, but he was tried in Texas under a law that held that anyone indirectly involved in a murder could still be held responsible for it. In 1976, the Sun reports that Dog was found guilty of first-degree murder, and sentenced to five years in Texas State Penitentiary.
As a result of his conviction, Dog is prohibited from owning a gun, hence why he uses tasers when apprehending criminals. Luckily, the TV personality only served 18 months of his sentence, and even prevented a prison breakout, saving a fellow prisoner from being shot by the guards in the process. In his autobiography "You Can Run but You Can't Hide" (via The Sun), Dog argues, "I have been misjudged, misinterpreted, and misunderstood for most of my life. I have spent the last twenty-seven years trying to be one of the good guys. In spite of those efforts to be seen as a moral man of virtue, I am still viewed as an ex-con, a criminal, a killer. I am many things ... Put [them] all together and you will see: I am Dog."
