Is Marine veteran Andrew Tahmooressi close to being let out of a Mexican jail, or not?

Posted 2014-10-09 18:21 by Grunt Report

The 911 call recording is filled with confusion. Andrew P. Tahmooressi, a Marine Corps veteran who had recently left active duty after two deployments to Afghanistan, had been pulled over near the Mexican-American border by Mexican authorities. He had taken a wrong turn while carrying guns and ammunition registered in the United States, and was unsure what to do next.

“Hi, I’m having a little bit of an emergency here,” Tahmooressi told the 911 operator March 31. “… I’m at the border of Mexico right now. My problem is, I crossed the border by accident and I have three guns in my truck, and they’re trying to… take my guns from me.”

The veteran, a sergeant in the infantry, added that “I’m not sure if I crossed yet.” He was taken into custody, and has remained imprisoned in Mexico ever since. He attempted to kill himself in April because he was afraid that prison guards would rape and torture him, his mother Jill said.

The Marine’s predicament was the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill last week. The Marine’s mother was flanked by television personality and veterans advocate Montell Williams and two other friends, and she urged lawmakers to push the authorities in Mexico to release her son from jail. Rep. Ed Royce (R.-Calif.) said that he had spoken recently with Mexican officials and was “confident that a humanitarian release will occur very soon” so the Marine veteran can receive treatment for post-traumatic stress, diagnosed following his deployments to Afghanistan.

That hasn’t occurred yet, however. Jill Tahmooressi told Checkpoint that the case is still proceeding slowly through the Mexican legal system. Authorities overseeing the case could make a ruling in coming weeks; they recently received independent verification from a Mexican doctor that Tahmooressi has post-traumatic stress, a possible step toward his release.

Mexican authorities haven’t yet rested their case against Tahmooressi, a point of frustration for those advocating on behalf of the Marine. A spokesman for his family, Jonathan Franks, said Monday that they “implore” the Mexican attorney general’s office to “to complete the necessary bureaucratic steps to move the case forward.”

The case has become a popular cause for conservative and veteran advocates, who say the U.S. government has not done enough to secure the Marine’s release. But legal experts say the case is complicated because possessing the weapons in Mexico is a serious offense – even if he did declare he had them when he crossed into Mexico and asked for directions back to the United States.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary said last week that he was aware a petition asking President Obama to intervene in the situation directly has received more than 100,000 signatures, but he was not ready to say what the White House would do.

Williams attributed Tahmooressi’s arrest to his post-traumatic stress disorder, and said more should be done to secure his release.

“We caused his arrest because we have not treated him appropriately, and we should work with our allies to be as compassionate as we can be to let this young man come home and get the treatment he deserves,” Williams said in an interview, hitting similar themes to comments he made on Capitol Hill last week.

Andrew Bartholomew, who served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan, said his friend’s treatment in prison has improved greatly since the case began receiving media attention, and he has done his best to remain optimistic that everything will end well.

“I’ve spoken with Andrew over the phone several times since his arrest and he seems to be doing alright,” Bartholomew. “Much better, at least, than I would be doing if I were in his shoes.”

SOURCE: Washington Post
BY: Dan Lamothe