Despite the government prosecutor's vow to appeal this week's innocent verdict for Ann Patton, criminal lawyers doubt she will face another trial in the 2010 shooting death of her husband John Felix Bender.
Five years and now on her third trial for murder, Patton has never wavered in proclaiming her innocence. She said that this trial would finally be the one to absolve her of any wrongdoing.
Nearly nine months after a panel of Costa Rican judges found Ann Patton guilty of killing her wealthy U.S. husband in 2010 and sentenced her to 22 years in prison, she suddenly found herself a free woman on Thursday.
Ann Patton, a U.S. citizen found guilty of killing her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, in Costa Rica in 2010, was released from prison Thursday after an appellate judge overturned her 22-year sentence, a family friend confirmed to The Tico Times. Patton was serving preventive detention while judges reviewed the May 2014 conviction.
The conviction by a Costa Rican court of U.S. expat Ann Maxin Patton on charges that she murdered her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, in 2010 continues to be scrutinized, this time by the CBS documentary news series "48 hours."
After more than a week of testimony, a Costa Rica criminal court on Tuesday convicted U.S. expat Ann Maxin Patton, 43, of shooting to death her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, 44, in 2010. The court sentenced Patton to 22 years in prison for the crime.
Honduras has approved stricter prison rules targeting suspected gang members and drug traffickers, adopting measures similar to those used in El Salvador’s anti-gang crackdown.
Trump backs a ban on US diesel exports as Costa Rica, which buys much of its diesel from the United States, faces a proposed increase of up to 100 colones per liter in October.
