Marine Jailed On Gun Charges Freed In Tijuana
By Dwight Daniels and Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 13, 1999
TIJUANA -- The Camp Pendleton Marine imprisoned here for two weeks after he inadvertently drove into Mexico with firearms is a free man.
"It's never good when you've got two congressmen and a general bailing you out of prison, but I think I'll be all right," a smiling Sgt. Brian Johnston said last night as he walked out of a Mexican prison.
Johnston, who was sporting a new Marine-buzz haircut and wearing an olive-green T-shirt and jeans, said he was excited but had not made any immediate plans.
He said he "was treated good" but added he has no plans to visit Mexico again.
Johnston left Tijuana's La Mesa State Penitentiary about 11:30 p.m. and was driven off in a U.S. government Chevrolet Suburban, flanked by Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, and Brian Bilbray, R-Imperial Beach, both of whom had lobbied hard for his release.
Judge Sergio Gonzalez Esparza of the 6th Federal Circuit Court in Tijuana ordered Johnston released after the Mexican attorney general petitioned him to drop all firearms possession charges.
If tried on the charges, Johnston could have faced four to 12 years in prison.
The 23-year-old Marine's plight had become a cause celebre for California's congressional delegation.
His release came amid growing diplomatic pressure on Mexican authorities from U.S. officials, apparently including President Clinton.
Bilbray said he had spoken to Clinton early yesterday about the case and the president pledged to contact Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo to push for the serviceman's release.
"Brian Johnston's story (went) to the top," said Bilbray, adding that Clinton "committed to calling President Zedillo to try to get this straightened out."
"This was a minor mistake, and (it turned) into a major international incident," Bilbray said of Johnston's errant border crossing.
Marco Antonio Macklis, Johnston's Mexican defense attorney, said the political pressure "helped, but I don't think it was the determining factor that caused the Mexican attorney general to proceed in the manner that he did."
Hunter and Bilbray, who visited the Marine last night at the Tijuana prison, were jubilant.
"The first thing we're going to do with the sergeant is buy him a big steak, and let him pick the place," Hunter said.
A 26-year-old Camp Pendleton Marine enjoying a night on the town in Carlsbad last night said he was overjoyed to hear of his colleague's imminent return to U.S. soil.
"Mexico is meant to be a friendly country," the private first class, who declined to give his name, said at the Boar Cross'n Bar & Grill on Grand Avenue. "What were (the Mexicans) thinking?"
Matt Brown, 23, a corporal from Nashville, Tenn., and a bouncer at the same night spot, said he understood that Mexico has its own justice system, "but . . . the (Mexican) immigration officials should know better than that. They should have seen he made a mistake and let him turn around."
San Diego area protesters had taken up the serviceman's cause, many voicing angry rhetoric on local talk radio aimed at Mexico for holding Johnston.
Yesterday, an Imperial Beach group formed a caravan of two dozen vehicles and clogged traffic at
the San Ysidro border crossing to protest the sergeant's jailing. They slowed southbound traffic but fell short of the total blockade organizers had envisioned.
Johnston was stopped just over the border by Mexican customs agents Oct. 30 while on his way to pick up some Marines detained by the Shore Patrol, which routinely stops Marines and sailors returning from Mexico inebriated.
Only at Camp Pendleton since April, Johnston said he was unaware of Mexico's strict gun laws. He said he had meant to pull off on the U.S. side of the border, but it was his first trip to Mexico and he was confused by the traffic layout.
"I wasn't supposed to go into Mexico. I had no intentions of going in," Johnston earlier told The Diego Union-Tribune from prison. "I'm used to the guard shack on the base, where you pull up to the shack and you talk to the person, but you're not actually on the base yet."
When the Mexican authorities asked Johnston if he had weapons in his Chevrolet truck, the Anaconda, Mont., native said he did, and showed the agents a disassembled semiautomatic assault rifle and a handgun he had in his tool box.
Johnston, who was wearing a camouflage uniform, was taken into custody. He tried to explain that he was carrying the guns to use in target practice after he got off duty. Marines must pass readiness tests with their weapons, and often practice shooting when off duty.
The sergeant, who has no military disciplinary record and has received several awards, was transferred during his ordeal from a Tijuana jail to the state penitentiary. He had been allowed to speak to his wife, Crystal, only a few times in brief telephone conversations.
The Johnstons have two young sons and live near Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Crystal Johnston was to travel today to San Diego for a reunion.
Brig. Gen. Bradley M. Lott, commanding general of the 1st Force Service Support Group at Camp Pendleton to which Johnston belongs, said in Tijuana yesterday that the base will "probably have to be more clear in giving directions" to Marines going to the border. "We'll take a look at that."
