i did not shoot my husband. you can tell me right here and now you did not kill john? i did not shoot my husband. i tried to stop him. on january 14th, 2013, three years after john bender s death, in a courtroom in san ysidro, costa rica, ann bender went on trial, charged with murdering her husband. [ speaking in foreign language ] her lawyer asked about her claim that she saw john holding a gun to his head. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ question answered in foreign language ] on cross-examination, ann
told the prosecutor that she had lost her grip on john s hands, started falling back and the gun went off. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ answering inquestion in foreign language ] on the fifth day of trial, testimony ended and closing arguments began. the prosecutor demonstrated how easy it was to shoot the gun. [ speaking in foreign language ]
mountainous landscape and beautiful beaches, an american ann bender has fought for her dreamed. fought the charge that she killed her husband john, on january 8th, 2010. her passport taken, unable to leave the country. trapped. she spoke with me while waiting to stand trial for a second time. was it murder? or suicide? prosecutors claimed ann is a cold-blooded killer. ann is adamant she did not murder her husband. you will be tried twice on the same charge. if there were any merit to this, i could respect it. and i could have some sense of peace. peace ann bender has been seeking since she first moved to costa rica with john. they hoped to escape in the clouds of the jungle. the isolation, instead, would lead to a descent into madness.
the decision and on what basis? translator: the decision took us by surprise. and after analyzing it, we did not agree with the court s assessment of the case evidence. prosecutors won their appeal and a new trial got under way in may. it was devastating to know that i have to go through this again. this is a travesty in terms of the use of the justice system. friends and family, including john s parents, do not believe his death was premeditated murder. absolutely not. oh, it is just so impossible. the moon could be made of green cheese, actually, before something like that. not only did ann not have a motive to kill him, i know she adored him and could not possibly benefit by his death. months before ann would learn her fate, i asked about her future. if you are again acquitted at
what he wanted most was for ann to go to jail. there is no way he wanted anything else. how has this affected you? what s been the impact? i am beyond upset in terms of the degree of betrayal and how long it was going on. you re basically broke, right? i m absolutely broke. translator: i requested that mr. alvarez be removed as a trustee. the court named a substitute to take his place. we ve reached out to juan dedee yos alvarez, but he s declined to speak with cnn. in this e-mail he says he is following the advice of his attorneys in not giving us an interview. with the civil suit and potentially a criminal trial against alvarez in motion, ann still had her own criminal trial to worry about. next, ann goes on trial.