Jorge Guevara, the security guard sentenced in the murder of Justin David Johnston has been acquitted by a Costa Rican court on his second trial.
Guevara, on morning of June 2, 2011, shot Johnston when the 16 year old tried to get into a hotel in Guanacaste. Guevars told the court that he fired a warning shot at what he thought was a burglar.
The security guard had been found guilty and sentenced to 15 years prison at his first tiral, but won a new trial on appeal.
The three judge panel, in their ruling, said he was legitimately confused by Johnston’s attempt to enter from a nearby property instead of the hotel’s main entrance.
Johnston was part of a group of Spanish Club students and two chaperones who were on a nine-day trip to Costa Rica. Authorities said the students had been sent to bed at 10 p.m. but some left their rooms and went to another building on the premises. They were returning to their rooms before dawn when the security guard spotted them.
“We feel like Justin has died all over again,” Wendi Johnston, Justin’s mother, told the Associated Press after learning of the court decision earlier this week. “How do you go from one trial where he is sentenced to 15 years to setting him free?”
