News

HonorAir sends $20K check for Tahmooressi fund

By Bill Moss, Published: October 11, 2014

The effort of Hendersonville-based HonorAir to help free a Marine stuck in a Mexican jail for crossing the border with guns has raised $20,000 to cover legal fees.

Jeff Miller, the co-founder of the Honor Flight Network, became interested in the plight of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi after he saw a Fox News feature  the night of July Fourth. The 25-year-old combat veteran who says he inadvertently drove into Mexico from the San Diego area has been in prison since Mexican border authorities arrested him on March 31 with three weapons in his truck. He faces charges for carrying a weapon intended for military use, carrying a weapon not registered in Mexico and possession of ammunition. If convicted he faces six to 21 years in prison.
Miller changed the sign at Miller's Laundry the night he saw the program about Tahmooressi. He arranged an event here to support the Tahmooressi family and invited the Marine's mother, Jill, and his sister, Andrea, who lives in Asheville. Usually devoted to civic announcements, the sign on King Street has remained unchanged except for the steady uptick of days the Marine has been held behind bars.
"We got in just under $20,000 (in donations), we rounded it up with our own funds," Miller said on Saturday.
Fernando Benitez, Tahmooressi's third attorney, has gotten the case moving toward a possible resolution.
"It's just made all the difference because the first two just took their money, gave bad advice and didn't do anything," Miller said.
Benitez has completed the defense case. Next the prosecution presents its case to a judge.
"Then judge will have 10 business days to make some type of ruling," Miller said.
Benitez filed a motion that forced the state to appoint a psychiatrist to examine Tahmooressi. The psychiatrist confirmed that the Marine suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
"If our expert and the state's expert both agree there is no rehabilitation to be had for Andrew ... then we have a very good shot of making a constitutional argument and we might cut this whole thing short," Benitez said in an online Fox News report.
"Jill is extremely optimistic right now. She's very excited," Miller said. "The biggest thing she wants is to get him home in her house before all the news breaks."
The expert opinion on PTSD was critical because it gave Benitez grounds to argue for Tahmooressi's release on humanitarian grounds.
"He's in rough shape," Miller said . "Today's 194 days — 194 days in that type of condition when you already had a problem before you were even put in there. When he gets out is really just the beginning" of his treatment for post-combat stress compounded by his experience in Tijuana. If the judge rules in the Marine's favor he could be home by Thanksgiving.
"That's the real hope is home for the holidays," Miller said. "But if they choose to be really difficult and hard-nosed about this it could go on indefinitely."
The donations since July came from "hundreds of people, in amounts from $5 to a thousand," he said. "It was primarily local but I got checks from Florida, up north. I got some from bizarre places that you wouldn't expect. It was just like HonorAir when we started it. You didn't see a lot of big checks but we saw a lot of checks."
Miller said he knows the sign is popular and effective — and in great demand from civic clubs and nonprofits wanting to announce events. Yet no one has asked him to abandom his appeal for Sgt. Tahmooressi.
"I have not had one single negative comment from anybody about that," he said. "I haven't had a single person ask me to take it down, even for a day. I think there again it speaks to this area and their support for the military and the veterans."