Tijuana hearing Wednesday for Marine vet

Andrew Tahmooressi, a U.S. Marine veteran detained in Baja California since March 31, is expected to tell his story for the first time to a Mexican federal judge on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Florida native is fighting charges that he violated Mexican weapons and ammunitions laws when he drove from San Diego to Tijuana with three firearms and more than 400 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle.

Tahmooressi, who recently had moved to San Diego, has claimed that he crossed accidentally into Tijuana’s El Chaparral port of entry. At Wednesday’s hearing, he is scheduled to present his account of the events leading to his arrest before Judge Victor Octavio Luna Escobedo of the Sixth District Court in Tijuana.

Federal prosecutors maintain that the weapons — a 5.56-caliber assault rifle, a .45-caliber pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun — were loaded and within reach. They are charging Tahmooressi with possession. If convicted, Tahmooressi faces from 7 to 10 years behind bars, said his Tijuana attorney, Fernando Benítez.

No rulings are expected at Wednesday’s hearing, which also will include testimony by two Mexican Customs officers who witnessed Tahmooressi’s arrest. The arresting officers are scheduled to testify at a later date.

“I feel optimistic that justice will prevail, and we will get a chance to prove that the system works,” Benítez said.

The U.S. State Department’s website warns that “dozens of U.S. citizens ... are arrested each month for unintentionally violating Mexico’s strict weapons laws.”

Tahmooressi’s arrest has drawn unusual attention, and his defenders have been focusing on the fact that the weapons were legally acquired in the United States, and that he is a war veteran who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and recently began treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

A proposed U.S. House of Representatives resolution introduced last month states that Mexico “should immediately release” Tahmooressi and “provide for his swift return to the United States,” so that he can continue his treatment. A White House petition on Tahmooressi’s behalf now counts more than 129,000 signatures.

A court appearance by Tahmooressi originally scheduled on May 28 was canceled after the family fired his first attorney. Matters were delayed further after a second attorney was also let go.

“Neither had experience or success in criminal defense work,” according to a news release by Serving California, a California-based nonprofit group that helps veterans. The president, Philip Dunn, is a criminal defense attorney who stepped in to help the family pick the current legal team.

Since June 17, Tahmooressi has been formally represented by Benítez, a Tijuana attorney who in 2011 successfully defended former Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon on federal weapons charges.

Benítez said he plans to focus on Tahmooressi’s lengthy detention at El Chaparral by Mexican Customs authorities. “The whole procedure is very flawed and plagued with irregularities,” Benítez said in an interview this week. “You must be immediately remanded to the prosecutor’s office,” Benítez said, but Tahmooressi wasn’t taken to the office until seven hours after his arrest.