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Humanitarian grounds for Tahmooressi release?
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/01/tahmooressi-heari...
Supporters say that U.S. Marine vet needs treatment in U.S. for PTSD
By Sandra Dibble
OCT. 1, 2014
Congressional supporters of Andrew Tahmooressi, a U.S. Marine veteran on trial in Tijuana on firearms charges, said Wednesday they believe Mexican
prosecutors could move to dismiss the case soon on humanitarian grounds.
The basis for the release would be findings by an expert witness for the prosecution this week that Tahmooressi suffers from combat-related
post-traumatic stress syndrome and requires treatment in the United States.
Tahmooressi has been detained in Baja California since he drove into Mexico on March 31 with three loaded weapons and more than 400 rounds of
ammunition. He is on trial for possession of the weapons and ammunition; if convicted, he faces up to 21 years behind bars.
The Florida native, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and had begun treatment for PTSD, had recently moved to San Diego at the time of his
arrest. He has maintained that he drove into Tijuana by accident, after taking a wrong turn in San Ysidro.
During a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday focusing on Tahmooressi’s case, U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., relayed that Mexico’s attorney
general, Jesús Murillo Karam, told him last week that “he has the authority within Mexican law to dismiss Sgt. Tahmooressi’s case on humanitarian
grounds once he has the expert testimony that verifies his combat-specific PTSD diagnosis.”
U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had received similar assurances in a separate conversation with
Murillo Karam.
A psychiatrist from Mexico City hired as an expert witness by the prosecution met with Tahmooressi on Monday, said Fernando Benítez, Tahmooressi’s
defense attorney. On Tuesday, Dr. Alberto Pinzón Picaseño concurred with the finding of another psychiatrist hired by the defense team that
Tahmooressi suffers from a condition that has him “feeling in constant danger.” The physician recommended that the treatment be headed “by specialized
persons in his country of origin,” according to his report.
The finding supports the Tahmooressi defense team’s argument that Mexico’s penal system is not equipped to treat someone with foreign combat-related
PTSD — and thus Tahmooressi should be released so he can be treated in the United States.
Wednesday’s subcommittee hearing included testimony from Tahmooressi’s mother, Jill; media personality and U.S. Navy veteran Montel Williams; Marine
veteran Roberto Buchanan, who served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan; and Pete Hegseth, head of Concerned Veterans for America.
Several Republican members of the House spoke on Tahmooressi’s behalf, including Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine. The members of Congress criticized President
Barack Obama for not directly advocating on Tahmooressi’s behalf with the Mexican government and securing his release.
The president “ought to get his tail down there and play on some of those Mexican golf courses and get him out of jail in person,” Hunter said.
Mexico has maintained that Tahmooressi’s case will be resolved through the judicial system.
“The case is a legal matter, not a political one,” Ariel Moutsatsos, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., said in an email
Wednesday. “This is in the hands of the judge.”
David Shirk, a University of San Diego professor who studies Mexico’s criminal justice system, said that if Tahmooressi is to be released, “it needs
to be demonstrated that this is indeed a special case. You can’t simply give him a pass because you’re barking at Mexico.”
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BajaNews
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Lawmaker Hopeful US Marine Will be Released from Mexican Jail
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/10/01/lawmaker-hopef...
Oct 01, 2014
by Bryant Jordan
A key lawmaker on the House Foreign Affairs Committee expects the Marine now held in a Mexican prison on gun charges to be released shortly on
humanitarian grounds.
Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Arizona, said Mexico's top prosecutor indicated the charges against former Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi could be dropped if he receives
expert testimony indicating the veteran suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Salmon said that information has been passed along to Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam.
"I am confident, I am hopeful that [Karam] will do the right thing and order the release of Andrew," Salmon said.
Salmon offered the hopeful outcome during a hearing of the panel's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, which also heard testimony from Tahmooressi's
mother, Jill, and former Sgt. Robert Buchanan, who served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan. Celebrity and former Marine Montel Williams and Peter
Hegseth, a Marine vet who now heads Conservative Veterans of America also testified.
Tahmooressi was arrested in Mexico on March 31 after border police there stopped his truck and found three weapons – a .45 caliber pistol, a 12-guage
shotgun and a 5.56-caliber rifle. The Marine told authorities he had entered Mexico by mistake after taking a wrong turn near the border with San
Diego, Calif.
The weapons all were legally registered to Tahmooressi in the U.S.
Tahmooressi served two tours in Afghanistan where, according to lawmakers and Buchanan, he received a meritorious combat promotion. He was wounded by
an IED blast during his last deployment. He was diagnosed with PTSD only 10 days before he was arrested in Mexico.
Now held at a prison in Tecate, Tahmooressi initially was incarcerated in Tijuana, where his mother said he was badly mistreated.
In her testimony Wednesday she read statements made by her son, including one from early April, when he said he doubted that he would "make it through
the night.
"There are hit men in the cell with me and they told me they are going to kill me." He also warned her against coming down to investigate because
"they are going to kill you too. Change your bank accounts and go underground. Your life is in danger."
He later told her, she said, that he tried to kill himself after inmates and guards threatened "to rape, torture and eventually execute me for
information."
Jill Tahmooressi used the hearing on Wednesday to explain a contradiction between what her son's court-appointed Mexican attorney told the court about
his being in the country and what her son said.
Initial reports claimed Tahmooressi denied ever having been to Mexico until he was arrested, a denial that looked bad when it was shown he had been in
Tijuana earlier the same day.
His mother said his defense attorney submitted the false testimony for her son against his opposition and instructions, telling him "to forget
anything you know about American law" because it does not work the same.
Her son was told "to say he just arrived in San Diego that day, was rushing to meet a friend, had never been to Mexico before and he got lost."
With the help of a California lawyer familiar with the Mexican system and short list of good Mexican defense lawyers, she said, they dismissed the
court-appointed attorney and hired their own.
Actor and pitch-man Williams, a former Navy lieutenant commander who began military service as an enlisted Marine, appeared at the hearing as a
veterans advocate. Williams said he knows he suffers problems even if he misses treatment for a day, and can only imagine what Tahmooressi's situation
will be like.
"He has said his time in this prison has been worse than his time in both his combat tours," Williams said. "He's going to come back and be treated
for combat PTSD after dealing with this?"
Buchanan, who served with Tahmooressi in Afghanistan, said he "had a humble attitude. He never talked back, was always eager to learn. He was the best
Marine he could be."
A number of the lawmakers, as well as some witnesses, took the opportunity to slam the White House for not acting to secure Tahmooressi's release. The
administration has come under frequent fire for not getting directly involved in the issue.
Thousands of people signed a White House petition calling for action and the Veterans of Foreign Wars made its own call for presidential involvement.
Publicly, at least, it appears the White House has kept its distance.
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BajaNews
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Montel Williams testifies on the Hill, breaks down in tears
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2014/...
By Helena Andrews
October 1
On Wednesday, former talk show host and retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander Montel Williams, delivered fiery Capitol Hill testimony on behalf of
fellow Marine, Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who’s been serving time in a Mexican prison for the last six months.
“He didn’t hesitate to say, ‘Aye aye, sir’ to go off and serve,” said Williams, his voice cracking and his eyes watering. “How dare we? How dare we as
a nation hesitate to get that young man back?”
In March, Tahmooressi, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested in Tijuana after driving across the border from San Diego with three guns in
his truck. Tahmooressi has said he accidentally entered Mexico after making a wrong turn. According to his family, the 26-year-old suffers from combat
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In June, Tahmooressi told CNN that he’d tried to commit suicide while incarcerated.
Williams, who retired from active duty in 1989 and hosted a popular day-time talk show until 2008, has been an advocate for Tahmooressi’s release
since this summer. At Wednesday’s House panel, Williams, who has multiple sclerosis, said some of his MS symptoms are similar to Tahmooressi’s PTSD,
including depression and hyper-vigilance.
“We are all judged for what we do for the least of us. Andrew is one of the best of us,” said Williams near the end of his five minute-testimony. “If
we can’t treat the best better than we treat the worst, how dare you ask another gentleman to put on a uniform?”
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