September 8, 2015
SAN JOSE (AFP) - A Costa Rican court found US citizen Ann Patton not guilty Monday of killing her multi-millionaire husband John Bender in 2010 at their luxurious mansion perched in the rainforest.
Bender, also a US citizen, died of a gunshot wound to the head that Patton says was self-inflicted, alleging her husband suffered from bipolar disorder.
Prosecutors in the Central American country say abundant forensic evidence indicates Patton shot him, but the criminal court in the western district of Perez Zeledon found they had failed to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.
It was the third trial Patton, 46, had faced over his death.
Initially cleared, she was then convicted of aggravated homicide on appeal and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The case is one of the longest-running in the history of Costa Rica, where defendants can be tried again if prosecutors appeal a not-guilty verdict.
Prosecutors said they may appeal Monday's decision.
"We don't share the judges' analysis," said deputy prosecutor Edgar Ramirez.
Patton and Bender, who made his fortune as a commodities and equity trader, shared a palatial glass home they designed and built high in the mountains in Costa Rica's lush La Florida region.
