Costa Rican officials tell KU indictments will be pursued in Shannon Martin case

LAWRENCE -- Costa Rican officials have told the University of Kansas that they continue to search for new witnesses in the Shannon Martin murder case and they will aggressively pursue indictments at a preliminary hearing by March 20. Martin, a KU student, was slain in Golfito in May 2001.

Jeffery Weinberg, assistant to Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway, and Diana Carlin, dean of the graduate school and international programs, traveled to San Jose last week, where they were briefed by Vice President Lineth Soborio; Jorge Rojas, director of the Organization of Judicial Investigation (OIJ); and other officials.

Hemenway last month had asked President Abel Pacheco to arrange the briefings and urged the president to see that every legal avenue of the case was pursued.

After their return late Saturday, Weinberg briefed Martin's family and Hemenway. During the trip, Weinberg had stayed in contact with Martin's family and Topeka attorney Pedro Irigonegaray, who has assisted the family in Topeka and Costa Rica. Weinberg and Carlin had carried letters from the family to Costa Rican officials.

"We believe that Costa Rican investigators have worked thoroughly and aggressively on Shannon's case, and they continue to press for evidence," said Hemenway. "They have conveyed that this is a difficult case -- there are no eyewitnesses to the murder. However, they have told us in no uncertain terms that they are committed to bringing Shannon's murderers to justice.

"On behalf of Shannon Martin's family and the University of Kansas, I want to thank President Pacheco for arranging the meetings and for the continued efforts of the Costa Rican government to see that justice is served."

Officials said that Prosecutor Erik Martinez will request an indictment of three suspects by the deadline of March 20. If the judge rules in the prosecutor's favor, the case will be sent to trial before a tribunal of three judges. The trial, which would take place a few months to a year after indictment, would be in Golfito.

In addition to briefings from Soborio, Rojas and his deputy director, Gerardo Laxcares, Weinberg and Carlin met with U.S. embassy officials, the medical investigator in the case, and the Golfito chief of police and his investigators, who were flown to San Jose for the briefing. Weinberg and Carlin were told that OIJ and Golfito investigators have been in monthly contact with the FBI about the case.

The original purpose of the KU trip to San Jose was to meet with University of Costa Rica officials about academic exchange agreements, until Costa Rican officials responded to Hemenway's request for briefings. KU and the University of Costa Rica have a 45-year-old exchange pact, the oldest inter-university exchange in the Western Hemisphere. Meetings on the KU-UCR pact and its extension took place as planned.