What has happened in the Tahmooressi case since May 28, 2014? —when, on the courthouse steps at the eleventh hour, the decorated Marine fired his lawyer and requested time to find a new one. The events leading up to the postponed hearing concerning this fast-evolving case regarding unauthorized and illegal transportation on March 31, 2014 of prohibited weapons into Mexico can be reviewed here and here.

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There are three answers to this question concerning recent developments, two of them routine and straightforward, the other most definitely not routine:

Answer number one: On May 30, 2014, the White House petition to free Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi surpassed the necessary 100,000 signature threshold required to trigger a response from President Obama.

Answer number two: On June 4, 2014, Tahmooressi's postponed evidentiary hearing— scheduled to take place in a Tijuana courtroom— was postponed for a second time to procedurally substitute-in his new counsel. A new date has not yet been set.

Answer number three: This is the answer that is most decidedly not routine — an international uproar concerning the secret prisoner exchange of an American prisoner of war, Sgt. Bowe Dahlberg, for five senior Al Qaeda operatives detained at Guantanamo Bay. This has forced a strident "amen chorus" to come forward shouting for President Obama to seek a similar prisoner exchange solution for Tahmooressi.

Regarding the first point, the White House petition:It is expected that President Obama will address the Tahmooressi matter in the very near future, as the Petition requires. Secretary of State John Kerry has already brought the matter up with Mexican President Peña Nieto during his recent visit to Mexico City on unrelated business.It is not known what President Obama will say concerning Tahmooressi but it is certain that his remarks will be inevitably reflected through the giant distorting mirror of the Bergdahl case. This is a great pity.The Bergdahl and Tahmooressi cases have nothing in common.

Further, Sgt. Tahmooressi needs to be very careful in asserting his military status. Speaking exclusively to London's Mail Online from his El Hongo prison, the 25-year-old marine said: 'Mr. President, you are my Commander in Chief. Please get me out of jail I am still in the Marines and President Obama is my Commander in Chief.' This status is re-confirmed by the fact that he received a "Letter to Muster" while he was incarcerated in Tijuana awaiting his evidentiary hearing. In the past, although it may be a grey area for marines not stationed at Camp Pendleton, Tijuana has been off-limits to marines.

Regarding the second point, concerning the postponement of his hearing: If the Tahmooressi case, which began as a minor border issue, had been allowed to proceed in a normal fashion, we would have arrived at this same destination without all the fuss. Except that Andrew would already have begun the evidentiary hearing process and be well on his way towards final resolution. e is now under protective custody — in a brand-new federal lockup that is superior to most prisons north of the border. If this were the intention of Jill Tahmooressi, in orchestrating publicity for her son's release, then she has succeeded. He was removed for his own safety from the dangerous environment of La Mesa prison where he spent his first days in custody and now has his own cell while awaiting trial in Tijuana, at El Hongo, near rural Tecate. Mission accomplished.

That should be the end of the matter as we all wait for Andrew's trial and for justice to play out. But unfortunately this is not to be the case, and this is to Andrew's detriment. The more extra-legal pressure that is placed on the Mexican justice system, the higher the cost of Andrew's release. Supporters of Tahmooressi, and the media, are blind to the reasonable concerns that Mexico has with Tahmooressi's story, and fail to include the inconvenient truth that in addition to his "accidental" transportation of weapons and ammo into Mexico, he would have also been in violation of California Penal Code for inadequately transporting weapons -- and likely for possession of the assault rifle as well. According to a recent article by VICE News, just because these weapons were legally purchased in Florida doesn't mean they are legally owned in California, nor that they are permitted to be transported, loaded and outside of locked containers.

Recent Developments

According to a June 6 Fox News story, Tahmooressi's new attorney, Lamberto Jesus Esquer Dabdoub, "will be looking at the prolonged amount of time Tahmooressi was held at the border in the custody of the Mexican military March 31 in what Tahmooressi felt was a failed shakedown." Very little is known of this young Tijuana-based attorney, a 2008 graduate of the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California in Mexicali, who reportedly specializes in civil, not criminal, litigation. This is the first time this shakedown, or mordida, strategy has been advanced.

Tahmooressi's first attorney, Alejandro Osuna, was fired over claims he had encouraged his client to lie concerning past travels to Tijuana. Osuna denies this allegation, which is tantamount to the subornation of perjury. Although Osuna says he believes in Andrew's innocence, he says the fall-out was due to a difference of opinion in legal strategy. But why then did Tahmooressi stick with this attorney even after the lie publicly emerged? According to the sergeant's mother, Jill, they did not want to lose time by having to start the case all over again by switching lawyers— which is exactly what they have ended up doing. From now on, every tick of the clock can be charged to the Tahmooressi's meter.A press conference is scheduled for June 12, in Esquer Dabdoub's Tijuana office.

"I am talking to a security expert to accompany me," Jill said, according to the Fox News story.

It is unknown when this case will get back on the docket in Tijuana. In this vacuum, it is hoped all parties can quell the hysteria, take a deep breath, and let the orderly due process of the Mexican law take its course.

Alas, it is anticipated that the Tahmooressi legal team and the greater media crusade conducted by mother Jill will pump up the volume levels of distortion, including the unconscionable conflation of Andrew's incarceration with the controversial Taliban prisoner swap for Sgt. Bergdahl. But history teaches that it is far easier to animate such a rough propaganda beast into being than it is to control. If this monster takes on a life of its own, it can dwarf the actual merits of Andrew's case and the unwarranted pressure on the Mexican legal system may boomerang to haunt Sgt. Tahmooressi and make his team wish that they had simply let the legal process do its job.

Yet, on Monday, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services committee, asked Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to suspend military aid to Mexico. "I urge you to immediately consider suspending training and equipment assistance to Mexico until Andrew's case is resolved."

And Jill Tahmooressi continues to defend her son's innocence with the same mantra she has used since before the first scheduled hearing: "I have no confidence in their system … Justice will prevail, but not because of the truth from the other side."

Meanwhile, demands for border blockades, sanctions and prisoner exchanges are totally inappropriate and only serve to back Mexico up against a wall and stiffen its resolve to let this case play out in the Mexican courtroom and not in the echo chamber of geopolitical intrigue fueled by hashtag activists and ill-informed zealots of every stripe under the sun.

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