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.
On Monday morning, a three-judge panel in Pérez Zeledón acquitted U.S. citizen Ann Patton of charges of murdering her husband, wealthy financier John Bender, in 2010.
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.
Last Wednesday, Patton's boyfriend, 40-year-old New York State native Greg Fischer, was found dead in his Escazú apartment southwest of San José, from an apparent heart attack or asthma attack, his brother Brian stated in a Facebook post.
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.
Ann Maxin Patton, 43, was in court again today in San Isidro de El General for a retrial on charges that she murdered her husband, U.S. financier John Felix Bender, 44, in a bizarre incident at their jungle mansion in 2010.
