Lawyers Win Delay in Sending Ship’s Captain to Mexican Prison

Lawyers won a federal court order Saturday delaying the transfer of an Orange County ship captain from his hospital bed to a prison, and they expressed growing confidence that their intense legal campaign could win the man’s freedom within a few weeks.

Scott McClung remained in stable condition in a private clinic on this resort island, suffering from a stress-related illness compounded by the nine days he spent in a Mexican jail until he collapsed Wednesday night, moments after a judge ruled that he must be imprisoned.

McClung, 35, was ordered held without bail pending a trial on charges of transporting weapons clandestinely into Mexico aboard his family-owned ship, the Rapture. Engine trouble forced the vessel to make an unscheduled stop in Cozumel on Aug. 10 during its maiden voyage from Florida to Newport Beach.

Alton Burkhalter, an Irvine lawyer on the defense team, said a federal judge in Cancun had approved an order Saturday temporarily blocking McClung’s transfer to a mainland prison until it is established that McClung’s health would not suffer serious damage. Family doctors were expected to arrive in Cozumel soon to check McClung’s condition, which was aggravated when he missed some medication doses while in the town jail.

Cesar Peniche, one of McClung’s lawyers from Mexico City, said the team also had filed a separate, broader federal court application in Chetumal, capital of the state of Quintana Roo. That application seeks a form of habeas corpus that would block implementation of the first court ruling.

Peniche said the application challenged the constitutionality of the district attorney’s search of the vessel, when the firearms were allegedly discovered. If the request is approved, the case will be shelved, he said.

“I am increasingly confident that we will be able to resolve the case in three to four weeks and allow Scott to enjoy a well-deserved vacation back home with his family,” Peniche said.

In the best scenario, he said, McClung could remain in the clinic on Cozumel until the case is resolved.

Yet Scott McClung’s father, 71-year-old Eugene McClung of Laguna Beach, said, “We’ve had so many ups and downs since this started that we’re being cautious. You never know around here.”

At a meeting Saturday in Irvine, McClung’s defense team sought help from Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach). He told them that U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow will talk to Mexico’s attorney general early this week.

“What the State Department can and ought to do is work through diplomatic channels so that the Mexican government appreciates all of the potential consequences for tourism and the maintenance of healthy relations,” Cox said.

Family members had expected the case to be thrown out Wednesday on the strength of numerous affidavits and documents submitted to the judge, as well as testimony he heard.

The family maintains that the moment the ship pulled into Cozumel, the crew radioed to port officials to report the landing formally and to register the two AR-15 rifles and three shotguns that were aboard for protection against pirates and for skeet-shooting.

The family’s lawyers say the prosecutor suggested the day after the arrests that a $10,000 payment could solve the problem, but the planned “settlement” was leaked to local newspapers, closing the door to such a solution.

Eugene McClung, who was arrested with his son but freed Wednesday, said he and his wife, Mozelle, will remain in Cozumel until the case is resolved.

He said a skeleton crew would take the ship through the Panama Canal and on to its new home port of Newport Beach.

The twin-engine ship, 145 feet long with berths for up to 150 people, was en route from the shipyard in Panama City, Fla., to California when the engine trouble occurred.

Scott McClung, a Coast Guard-licensed captain, said earlier in the week that the ship was designed purely for seagoing religious missions and oceanographic research voyages for high school students.

He said he has run such trips for a dozen years aboard smaller boats, including frequent trips to Baja California on which arms also were aboard and registered without incident.

The new ship was meant to allow Scott’s business to run “at least close to break even,” Eugene McClung said. But he added that the costs of the Cozumel case could jeopardize the whole venture.

Times staff writer Greg Mena contributed to this story.