Did Mexican officials at the border violate Marine veteran Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi's rights? That's the question before a federal judge in Tijuana Monday morning at Tahmooressi's second court hearing.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Tahmooressi's defense attorney, Fernando Benitez, asserts Mexican police did not follow proper procedure when they arrested his client, and thus his legal rights were infringed upon:
The hearing will allow the attorney for Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi to question four Mexican officials who detained and arrested him after he crossed the border with a rifle, shotgun, pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his pickup truck.
Tahmooressi has been locked up in Mexico since April 1, when he says he missed the last U.S. exit before crossing the border into Tijuana with three registered guns in his truck. Mexican authorities promptly arrested him on illegal weapons charges.
Tahmooressi told UT San Diego in a jailhouse interview back in May:
“I said, ‘I have three guns’ and I showed them where the guns were and they checked out the guns and I said, ‘I didn’t even mean to be in Mexico. It was a mistake for me to be here. Can I just go back to the border?’ Five minutes later I was surrounded by like 20 military officials and police officers with guns watching me.”
When he was an active-duty Marine, Tahmooressi was deployed twice to Afghanistan.
Andrew's mother, Jill Tahmooressi, spoke with the Jacksonville Daily News about her son's treatment while jailed in Mexico:
“He’s described it as an experience worse than anything he experienced in Afghanistan. His life is being threatened by prisoners and guards. He’s a Marine with PTSD in what he perceives to be an enemy camp ... he describes his experience as worse than Afghanistan.”
