Andrew Tahmooressi, jailed in Mexico on gun charges since March, was ordered released by a judge in Mexico on Friday, according to documents released by the court. The family of Tahmooressi issued the following statement: "It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail." In Mexico, possession of weapons restricted for use by the Army is a federal crime, and the country has been tightening up its border checks to stop the flow of US weapons that have been used by drug cartels. "In Mexico, like in the United States, ignorance of the law, error, misperceptions or misunderstandings about the consequences of violating a law, are not exemptions from responsibility," prosecutors said in the statement. Tahmooressi’s mother Jill in July said she was able to spend 20 minutes with her son after a court hearing, when he was ordered to be held in jail.
– A 26-year-old Marine reservist is free after spending seven months in Mexico jails over what he says was a wrong turn. Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested in March because he crossed the border into Tijuana with three loaded guns in his pickup, reports ABC News. Tahmooressi says he made a wrong turn on a highway in California and never intended to go to Mexico, but authorities there cracking down on gun-running to cartels were unsympathetic. His family and a slew of high-ranking US politicians have lobbied since for his release, and a Mexican judge agreed to free him so he could be treated for his war-related PTSD. "It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail," said his family in a statement. Tahmooressi immediately boarded a plane back to the US. His lawyer had said Tahmooressi kept loaded weapons with him because they made him feel safer after his stint overseas. And his mother said her son was more traumatized by his time in jail than by the war. The AP notes that while PTSD is becoming a common subject in US courts, this is one of the first times it has been cited in a ruling in Mexico.