QCOSTARICA – For the third time, Anne Maxine Patton (also known as Anne Bender), faces trial today (Monday) in the murder of her husband, John Felix Bender, who was shot dead on January 28, 2010 in the bedroom of the home the couple shared in Barú de Pérez Zeledón.
The trial is being held in the Pérez Zeledón criminal courts starting at 8:00am and expected to take a week, at least, to complete.
Read more on this case:
- “You’ve never seen anything like the house John Bender died in”, CBS Probes Bender Case
- Love and Madness in the Jungle: John and Ann Bender
Patton, 44, is alleged to have committed the murder, becoming the prime suspect from the first minute authorities learned of Bender’s death.
The first trial, in January 2013, ended with the woman being acquitted of any responsibility in the crime. However, in August of that same year, the Court of Appeal, overturned the lower court’s decision, ordering a new trial.
On May 27, 2014, Patton was found to be responsible for her husband’s death and sentenced her to 20 years in prison.
However, Patton’s lawyer, Fabio Ocontrillo, made a successful plea to the Tribunal de Apelación de Sentencia Penal de Cartago (Cartago Appeals Court), ordering a new trial.
The defence lawyer argued “insufficient” the investigation by the police and the Perez Zeledon prosecutor’s office (Fiscalia in Spanish). He also argued the court, in its sentencing of his client, neglected to take into account “important” evidence in the case.
The Cartago court on February 19, 2015, order a new trial and for the immediate release of Patton, who was being held in the El Buen Pastor prison for women in San Jose, on the condition that she not leave the country, sign in weekly and maintain a permanent residence in San Isidor de General (Perez Zeledon).
Patton is staying strong in her assertion that her husband’s death was not murder, rather he took his own life, alleging that her husband suffered from depression.
The couple lived in a mansion on a 1,000 hectare estate in Florida de Barú, where they maintained also maintained an animal refuge.
