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Gun that landed Marine Jon Hammar in Mexican prison was legal, says veteran guide

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The gun that landed former Marine Jon Hammar in a notorious Mexican prison was legal under that country’s federal laws, according to a well-known hunting guide who leads ventures south of the border.

Robert Beall,of Tall Tine Outfitters of Mexico and formerly host of the Pursuit Channel television show “World of Hunting,” said the vintage Sears Roebuck shotgun that Hammar declared to Mexican customs officialsin Matamoros, Mexico, Aug. 13 while on his way to Costa Rica should not have landed the 27-year-old Hammar in prison. He’s been held at the infamous CEDES prison for more than four months awaiting trial for carrying an illegal weapon.

“Based on what I have read, he was totally within the parameters of the law in terms of the weapon,” Beall said.

Even if Hammar did not have the proper permits, carrying the weapon did not merit prison time, according to Beall.

“People are usually fined and released if they don’t have the appropriate permit,” Beall said.

The charge Hammar faces, according to his attorney Eddie Varon-Levy, was aggravated felony of having a weapon used by the Mexican armed forces, which is punishable up to 15 years in prison.

The Mexican federal prosecutor is arguing that Hammar Jr.’s 24-inch length barrel falls one inch below the federal requirement of 25 inches.

Varon-Levy said not only is the prosecution team unable to come to a consensus about how to actually measure the rifle, he was told by high-ranking Mexican military officials that they don’t even use the .410 gauge shells fired by the gun, which once belonged to Hammar’s grandfather and is considered an heirloom by his family.

“The federal weapons law and hunting laws are in direct conflict with each other,” Varon-Levy said.

Mexico typically reserves strict enforcement of the gun laws governing shotguns to those with barrels less than 20 inches long, and firing shells no larger than 12-gauge. Hammar’s was .410, the lowest gauge shotgun shells commercially manufactured.

Hammar admitted to Mexican officials he was planning on doing small game hunting, which the gun was appropriate for. His mistake, according to Beall, was not having the appropriate permits. The consulate certificate he should have provided may be obtained from any Mexican embassy or consulate upon presentation of a letter from the hunter’s local police or sheriff’s office verifying that the hunter has no criminal record. This certificate is also necessary for obtaining the military gun permits, which is issued by the army garrison in the state where the individual is going to hunt.

Varon-Levy said his argument is steeped not in the lack of appropriate permits, but the classification of the rifle and ammunition.

“He only faces one charge and that deals with bringing a weapon used by the military into Mexico,” Varon-Levy said. “It wasn’t concealed and Jon demonstrated he was in the mental state and had the intent to follow the law on both sides of the border.”

Hammar completed the required paperwork in the U.S. for the weapon according to Varon-Levy. He has yet to obtain these documents.

“In a worst-case scenario, Jon should only have been fined for this,” Varon-Levy said.

Hammar claims a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent told him the gun was okay to take into Mexico, but the agency said it is not policy to provide information to as to what another country’s laws are.

“Due to privacy, CBP does not comment on the specifics of an individual’s processing,” said Mike Friel, spokesman, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “CBP does not provide advice regarding the laws of foreign governments.

This has been refuted by Hammar’s parents and Ian McDonough, who accompanied Hammar Jr. on the trip and was also arrested but later released. They claim U.S. agents told Hammar the gun was legal to carry in Mexico.

Hammar remains in the notorious CEDES prison in Matamoros, Mexico, a facility experts say is controlled by Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel members.

Since his incarceration in August, Hammar, who fought for the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, has endured threats against his life, isolation for his own protection in a transformed storage closet where he was also reportedly chained to a bed. Varon-Levy said a court date is scheduled for Jan.17.

Hammar’s plight has sparked outrage among politicians and supporters. A Facebook page,http://www.facebook.com/FreeJonHammarhas been established to raise awareness and garner support.

Source: Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Mexico making example out of Marine with trumped up charge, says lawyer

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A Marine languishing in a Mexican prison on what his supporters call a trumped up gun charge was made an example by an overzealous prosecutor in a case that begged for discretion, his lawyer said.

Jon Hammar Jr., who was caught just inside Mexico‘s border with his grandfather’s antique, Sears & Roebuck shotgun while on the way to Costa Rica with a pal, should have been scolded and sent on his way minus the family heirloom, said Eddie Varon-Levy. Instead, Hammar has spent the lastfour months in one of Mexico‘s most dangerous prisons. Varon-Levy blamed the outgoing administration of President Felipe Calderon and his attorney general, Marisela Morales, who he said took their zero tolerance approach too far.

“The administration of Felipe Calderon and Attorney General Marisela Morales has had the attitude that they have to make examples of people that laws have to be enforced,” said Eddie Varon-Levy, 52.

Varon-Levy, who is an international law attorney with offices in Mexico City and Los Angeles, Calif., said the customs agent who nabbed Hammar and the prosecutor who charged him could have used discretion – and common sense – instead of filing the federal weapon charge charge against Hammar.

“They could have just taken the gun and not filed any charge,” he said. “This case should not even be tried.”

Morales has been lauded for her efforts in the midst of Mexico‘s violent drug war by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Hammar, a Marine who fought in Iraq during the siege of Fallujah, was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border between Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico Aug. 13, after he thought he legally declared a shotgun an American border agent allegedly gave him permission to take into Mexico.

“With the old administration you were guilty until proven innocent or ran out of money,” Varon-Levy said, “but with the new administration I am confident things will change favorably for my client.”

Enrique Pena Nieto took office as Calderon’s successor as Mexican president Dec. 1. The election of Pena ousted the PAN party’s short reign in Mexico and marked a return to the PRI party which ruled Mexico for 75 years. Varon-Levy said he hopes the new administration will use reason in enforcing the law. In Hammar’s case, he was jailed on a technicality that still hasn’t been fully explained. There is a conflict in how the officials are measuring Hammar Jr.’s rifle for its legality as well as its caliber and whether it is military grade. When Hammar declared the shotgun to Mexican customs agents, he was arrested because rather than the legally permissible 25-inch barrel, his was 24 inches. Even that is not clear.

“The prosecutor and investigator can’t even agree on the length,” he said.

Since he was initially detained, Mexican officials have not exactly followed such slavish devotion to the letter of the law, said Varon-Levy. The attorney has filed a motion alleging Hammar’s constitutional rights under Mexican law were violated when he was not provided an interpreter at the time of his arrest. Prior to filing the charges with the PGR, Mexico‘s attorney generals office, the border agent was supposed to explain the charges through an interpreter, which never happened, according to Hammar’s father, Jon Hammar Sr.

“Jon signed off on the charges anyway because they told him to do what they say and he’ll get out of jail faster,” Hammar said.

Prosecutors attempted to try his son on a felony weapons charge without his attorney or the agent who arrested him present in the Matamoros federal courtroom Nov. 23, the distraught father said. Varon-Levy and the Hammars made arrangements to be present, but were then told the proceeding was postponed until January. Then, on the original date and with no one from his team present, Hammar was brought from the prison by police and ordered to plead guilty to the charges that hold a sentence of between 5-15 years, Varon-Levy said.

“They claimed it was an administrative snafu,” Hammar Sr. said. “This is the reason why we finally went public about Jon’s arrest. Not only have we lost faith in the Mexican judicial system, we fear for our son’s safety.”

Ricardo Alday , spokesman, Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C., defended prosecutors’ actions in the case.

“The law is very clear, if you enter Mexican territory with a weapon restricted for the exclusive use of the Army, you incur a federal crime, whether you declare it or not,” Alday said.

But Hammar’s family and legal team say they are trying to battle the charges even as they fight for his life. On the second night he was imprisoned in the notorious CEDES prison in Matamoros, Hammar Sr. received a midnight call from an unknown man threatening his son’s life unless he paid $1,800. And Hammar, who suffers fromPost Traumatic StressDisorder from four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan remains in the Mexican prison, has also been chained to a bed in a storage-like closet to separate him for his own safety from the general population which includes members of the violent Los Zetas and Gulf drug cartels.

His parents, who live in Palmetto Bay, Fla., say they’ve gotten little help from the U.S. StateDepartment. They said they appreciate the help the U.S. Consulateprovided in getting the message across to Mexican officials to protect their son from other inmates, but said other than that, there doesn’t seem much the U.S. government can do.

“According to the consulate they can’t get involved in the legal matters of a foreign country but they could provide a list of attorneys which essentially came out of a phone book,” Hammer Sr. said. “They told us they couldn’t give us any legal advice.

“It makes me feel helpless.”

Joseph J. Kolb is a regular contributor to FoxNews.com

Source: Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Costa Rica

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The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting that a magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattled Costa Rica early Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The USGS said the quake, which struck at 12:54 a.m. local time, had an epicenter about two miles (three kilometers) south-southwest of Naranjo, which is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of the capital San Jose. Its depth was 6.3 miles (10.1 kilometers). A smaller earthquake shook Puerto Rico on Tuesday evening. The USGS says the magnitude 2.6 quake, which occurred at about 6:30 p.m. at a depth of 5.6 miles (nine kilometers), had an epicenter three miles (five kilometers) east-southeast of Mayaguez, or about 66 miles (106 kilometers) west of San Juan. No injuries or damage were immediately reported.
Source: Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Parents fight for release of Marine veteran son jailed in Mexico

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An American family is fighting to get their son, a Marine veteran, released from a prison in a dangerous area in Mexico while facing charges that he carried across the border a shotgun with barrel that’s an inch too short.

Jon Hammar and his friend were on their way to Costa Rica in August and planned to drive across the Mexican border near Matamoros in a recreational vehicle filled with surfboards and camping gear. Hammar, 27, asked U.S. border agents what to do with the unloaded shotgun, which his family said belonged to his great-grandfather.

“They examined it, they weighed it, they said you have to fill out this form,” his father, Jon Hammar, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday from his home near Miami.

But when the pair crossed the border and handed the paperwork to Mexican officials, they impounded the vehicle and jailed the men, saying it was illegal to carry that type of gun. Hammar’s friend was later released because the gun did not belong to him.

The family’s attorney said Mexican law prohibits civilians from carrying certain types of guns, like sawed-off shotguns, which can be more easily concealed. Mexican law prohibits shotguns with a barrel of less than 25 inches (63.5 centimeters). Family attorney Eddie Varon-Levy said Mexican officials measured the barrel on Hammar’s shotgun as 24 inches. It has not been sawed off.

Family members said the gun was purchased at Sears and blamed U.S. officials for telling Hammar he could bring it across the border in the first place.

Varon-Levy also questioned the way Mexican officials measured the gun, because the measurements can differ depending on where they are taken on the barrel.

He said dealing with Mexican authorities has also been difficult. He said Hammar was brought to court a few weeks ago, where officials tried to convince him to plead guilty without a lawyer present. Varon-Levy said he was never notified of the court date.

“I am fuming,” he said.

Hammar could face 12 years in prison, but Varon-Levy said that’s unlikely. He wants to get the charges downgraded, hoping Hammar can plead guilty to a lesser charge of carrying an unregistered weapon, which only carries a fine.

A call to the Mexican embassy in the U.S. was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hammar is being held in one of the most dangerous areas in Mexico.

Matamoros is the long-time headquarters of the Gulf Cartel, which has been engaged in a bloody struggle with its former security guards, the Zetas, since early 2010 for the lucrative drug routes along the eastern end of the Texas-Mexico border. An October 2011 fight among inmates at the prison left 20 dead and 12 injured.

At first Hammar was held with the general population, filled mostly with members of drug cartels. Now he is periodically chained to his bed in a cell by himself, said his father, he speaks with his son by phone occasionally.

“Sometimes he’s got his head on good. We’re like just, `Hang in there. We’re doing everything we can.’ Other days, it’s like, it’s not as good,” Jon Hammar said, sighing heavily and struggling to steady his voice.

In August, the family received a frightening middle-of-the-night phone call from the cartel demanding money, said Jon Hammar, a 48-year-old software engineer.

“`Lady, this isn’t about the police. This is our house. We have your son. We’re gonna kill him if you don’t send us money,”‘ Hammar said, recounting the phone call.

The couple planned to wire the money to an account, but officials at the U.S. consulate intervened and contacted prison officials. His son was moved into a private cell the next day, he said.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the State Department must work incessantly to reunite Hammar with his family and said she’s disappointed the agency has not told her what efforts have been made.

The Miami Republican said she plans to contact the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol about Hammar’s arrest. His mother emailed Ros-Lehtinen and asked for help.

“The Hammar family has suffered a great deal since their son’s unjust incarceration in August and the details they have provided to my office are gripping and a clear abuse of Jon’s human rights,” she said in a statement.

The State Department did not return a call seeking comment.
Source: Fox US News