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3
face trial in slaying of KU student
Costa
Rica: Judge says trial will be held this month in
death of woman who had been studying abroad
A judge on Friday
ordered two men and a woman to stand trial on
premeditated murder charges in the slaying of
Shannon Martin, a University of Kansas biology
student who was stabbed to death two years ago in
Costa Rica.
Pedro Irigonegaray, a
Topeka lawyer representing Martin's mother, Jeanette
Stauffer, said he was pleased that the three would
be tried.
"We hope justice
will be served," Irigonegaray said during a
telephone interview Friday in Topeka.
Martin, a 1996
graduate of Shawnee Heights High School, went to
Costa Rica in 2000 as part of a study-abroad
program, then returned one week before she was to
graduate to gather more specimens of a tree-dwelling
fern she was researching.
Martin was 23 years old when she was stabbed to
death around midnight on May 13, 2001, while walking
from a bar to her host family's home in the town of
Golfito, 190 miles south of San Jose, the capital.
Last month,
prosecutors filed murder charges against Kattia
Cruz, 28; Rafael Zumbado Quesada, 48; and Luis
Carrillo Castro, 38.
After hearing
prosecutors' evidence during a preliminary hearing
Tuesday, Judge Daniel Moran said all three
defendants should be tried for conspiring to kill
Martin.
Defense attorneys had
portrayed Cruz as the trio's ringleader, hoping the
judge would decide that Zumbado Quesada and Carrillo
Castro should face lesser charges. Costa Rica
doesn't have the death penalty, but a premeditated
murder conviction carries a prison term of more than
20 years.
Moran left it up to
court administrators to determine a trial date, but
said proceedings must begin before May 23, the last
day authorities can detain Cruz if her trial hasn't
begun.
Jeanette Stauffer was
in court for the preliminary hearing but left Costa
Rica earlier this week. She and other family members
plan to return for the trial, said Edrick Martinez,
the case's lead prosecutor.
Irigonegaray -- who
said he has spent hundreds of hours working on the
case free of charge with help from his partners,
Elizabeth Herbert and Bob Eye -- said he isn't
licensed to practice law in Costa Rica but also
plans to be on hand for the trial.
Moran refused to
allow Stauffer to take the stand during the
preliminary hearing, ruling that her testimony was
irrelevant. Martin's mother is offering a reward of
up to $50,000 to anyone who has information about
the killing.
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