Dobyns was born in Hammond, Indiana in 1961, but was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He was a standout athlete in several Sports at Sahuaro High School before attending the University of Arizona to play football. He became an All-Pacific-10 conference wide receiver, College Football All-American Candidate at Wide Receiver and was named to Arizona Wildcats “All-Century” football team. In 2012, Dobyns was named the "#1 Badass Arizona football player in history" by the Tucson Citizen newspaper. Dobyns graduated in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in Public Administration. After college, he played briefly in the Canadian Football League (1985) and United States Football League (1986) before deciding to become a federal law enforcement agent.

Dobyns became a Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in 1987. Less than a week after beginning operational duty, he was taken hostage at gunpoint in the Tucson desert while serving an arrest warrant on a convicted felon who was recently released from prison. The suspect forced Dobyns into the driver seat of the officers’ undercover car, which was immediately surrounded by the other agents with guns drawn. During a brief standoff, the agitated gunman repeatedly screamed at Dobyns to drive away. When Dobyns intentionally pulled the car keys from the ignition and dropped them to the floor, the assailant fired a single .38 caliber pistol bullet into Dobyns’ lung, which exited his upper chest. The other ATF agents instantly opened fire from both sides of the car, killing the gunman. Critically wounded, Dobyns was rushed to a Tucson hospital, where Dr. Richard Carmona, who later became the 17th United States Surgeon General, performed emergency trauma surgery that saved Dobyns’ life.

In April 2002, a deadly altercation broke out between the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and their arch-rivals, the Mongols Motorcycle Club in the middle of a Laughlin, Nevada casino filled with innocent bystanders, prompting federal law enforcement to open an undercover investigation called "Operation Black Biscuit", which included Dobyns.

In 2004, following the exposure of his true identity during the "Black Biscuit" prosecutions, Dobyns and his family became the targets of death threats by various organizations, including the Hells Angels, Aryan Brotherhood and Mara Salvatrucha ("MS-13") gang members and associates. According to Dobyns and official investigative reports by government watchdog agencies, ATF management failed to take reasonable measures to protect Dobyns and his family from numerous validated threats, including gang plans to infect Dobyns with the HIV virus, videotape the gang rape of his wife and daughter, and otherwise torture and murder them all.

In 2008 Dobyns filed a federal lawsuit against ATF for these retaliations and crimes in the United States Court of Federal Claims. DOJ immediately filed a retaliatory counter-suit against Dobyns claiming proceeds from his book. (Jay Dobyns v. United States of America, Case Number 08-700C, U.S. Federal Court of Claims, Washington, D.C., presiding Judge, Hon. Francis M. Allegra).

In January 2014, Dobyns retired from federal Service. Dobyns owns and operates the Jay Dobyns Group, a privately held company offering public speaking presentations and law enforcement training. He also owns and operates FoFig Films, a production company specializing in authentic law enforcement films.

In 2017, Dobyns published his prequel / sequel story to No Angel, titled Catching Hell - A True Story of Abandonment and Betrayal. [1]

Dobyns has appeared on national news programs such as Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN), Fox News, The FOX Report with Shepard Smith (FOX), and many others, discussing the death threats he has received, the federal government’s failures related to those situations, and his status as a whistleblower. He has also been featured in Newsweek Magazine, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and on National Public Radio.