McClung’s Lawyers Optimistic on Release

Lawyers for Scott McClung, a Laguna Beach skipper in custody in Cozumel on charges of violating Mexican weapons laws, said Tuesday night they are confident that McClung will be released this week.

“His release is a complicated procedure, but it could happen as early as [Thursday], although we are not certain of the day or time,” said Daniel Fuller, one of McClung’s Cozumel attorneys.

Although Mexico’s attorney general has already sent paperwork authorizing McClung’s release to the judge handling the case, Fuller cautioned that the judge may seek additional evidence.

But the lawyers expressed optimism by the turn of events that also coincide with Mexico’s Independence Day festivities today.

“We’re excited. We’re very thrilled with the news,” said William Bollard, an Irvine lawyer hired by the McClung family.

Bollard said the government’s decision leaning toward a release of McClung can be attributed to a combination of factors, including help from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, Mexico’s attorney general and support from McClung’s friends in Southern California.

“It is all of the forces,” Bollard said. “It’s also because in their own investigation conducted from Mexico City, they have confirmed many irregularities in connection with the arrest and detention [of McClung] and other irregularities that are not directly related to this case but related to prosecutor [Claudio] Sanchez.”

Sanchez, who is assigned to the resort city just off the Yucatan peninsula, was summoned to Mexico City to meet with Mexico’s attorney general.

Lawyers for McClung, who has been in custody since Aug. 10, when Mexican law enforcement officials seized his 145-foot vessel, the Rapture, have alleged that Sanchez sought a $10,000 bribe to release McClung after his arrest.

Sanchez could not be reached for comment but has said that he cannot speak about the case.

Mexican lawyer Miguel Sosa, who is helping McClung in Cozumel, said that Sanchez had been summoned to Mexico City to “answer questions” about the McClung arrest.

A spokeswoman with the attorney general’s office in Mexico City said there has been no formal announcement concerning Sanchez or of his duties as prosecutor.

The action by the government was viewed as a good sign for McClung, said his father, Eugene McClung, who also was arrested along with first mate, Noah Bailey.

“Scott did think that the news about the prosecutor was a good sign,” Eugene McClung said. “We’re all hopefully optimistic about what’s going on.”

Scott McClung remains under guard in a private clinic in Cozumel for health reasons. His trial is scheduled for Sept. 23.

Meanwhile, in Orange County, students at Mariners Christian Church in Costa Mesa will send letters in Spanish and English to the prosecutor’s office in support of McClung.

The students’ goal, said Principal Mary Letterman, is to appeal for mercy in the hope of obtaining McClung’s speedy release.

Children in seventh and eighth grade will join the letter-writing campaign on Thursday on behalf of McClung, who as captain of another vessel--also named the Rapture--had taken the students as sixth graders on a three-day ministry trip to Santa Catalina Island.

“We are continually praying for Scott and his family because we care deeply,” Letterman said.

In Cancun, another federal judge accepted written arguments in support of McClung’s innocence, Sosa said.

“It seems that right now, all the forces at work here are working for Scott’s freedom,” he said.

McClung’s attorneys said authorities are focusing on what occurred at the dock when the Rapture, on its maiden voyage from Florida to Southern California, developed engine trouble and was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Mexico.

The McClungs said they were advised by U.S. Coast Guard officials in Florida to carry weapons to help ward off pirates who prey on boats in the Caribbean.

Officials found two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles and three shotguns aboard the Rapture. But the McClungs said they declared the weapons to harbor officials and all law enforcement representatives who subsequently boarded the Rapture.

Sanchez, the prosecutor, has argued that McClung made no declaration of weapons aboard the Rapture when it docked in Cozumel.