Group Dead Serious About Bounty on Slain Criminals : Vigilantes: Members get two stickers meant to warn off attackers. Any member who kills in self-defense is eligible for a $5,000 reward.

A group calling itself Dead Serious is offering $5,000 to anyone who legally kills to protect family, home or personal property.

Almost anyone willing to fork over $10 a year can join.

Members get two Dead Serious stickers meant to warn off the criminal element. And any member who kills in self-defense gets a $5,000 reward.

Of course, that’s only if authorities find the use of deadly force was appropriate.

“People say you shouldn’t have to pay $5,000 to do the right thing,” said William Mitchell, 23, the group’s Dallas-area representative.

“That is incentive, that is insurance,” said Mitchell, who spends his days fixing broken city water mains.

“If someone breaks into your house and you kill them, this buys you the insurance that he will not break into another house. This person will never hurt you again, will never hurt anybody again.”

The group apparently isn’t breaking any laws but authorities advise members, estimated at about 800 in 13 states, to be cautious.

“It’s going to be difficult to convince a jury you killed in self-defense if you’re claiming a reward for killing,” said Tarrant County Assistant Dist. Atty. Marvin Collins, who is a former federal prosecutor.

Furthermore, the use of lethal force has tough consequences, Dallas police spokesman Ed Spencer said.

“We just don’t think that many citizens can really fully understand those legal, moral and ethical issues associated with taking someone’s life,” Spencer said.

Founder Darrell Frank, 35, says the group is an outgrowth of a failed system--one with which he is closely acquainted.

Frank has done time in Texas and Minnesota for burglary, aggravated assault and larceny. Out of prison for more than a decade, he considers his criminal past long behind him.

He calls the group a crime deterrent, saying prisons, jails and courts are losing impact and taxpayers are tired of paying the freight.

Although no one has yet made a claim for the $5,000, Mitchell said he’d like the first application to come from a woman.

“That would make a statement,” Mitchell said. “It would say, ‘No, this is not just a bunch of “bubbas” out here doing this; this is women and other people also, and we’re going to stand up for ourselves too.’ ”