Costa Rica’s Justice Minister Cecilia Sánchez Romero was forced this week to defend before the Legislative Assembly the partial release of hundreds of inmates to reduce overcrowding. The program has sparked criticism from various sectors, including the Public Security Ministry.
A court outside San José reversed a previous ruling that left a judge from Limón free after her arrest in May for allegedly working with drug trafficking cartels by issuing favorable rulings.
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.
In an early morning raid Friday, agents from Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) arrested Rosa Elena Gamboa, a superior court judge for the province of Limón, on suspicion of corruption and allegedly aiding international drug trafficking cartels.
