thursday,november 13,2003
the university daily kansan 3A
news
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Martin's autopsy shows violence
By Katie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan senior writer writer
In what Shannon Martin's mother called the most draining day of her life, the trial of three Costa Rican locals for Martin's murder continued into a second day of testimony.
"It was an emotionally difficult day," said Martin's mother, Jeanette Staufer, by phone. "I'm looking at these people, knowing what they did to her."
Martin
A specialist showed autopsy photos that portrayed how Martin died to the three-judge tribunal deciding the case. Luis del Valle, a specialist from Costa Rica's judicial investigative police, was one of six witnesses to testify yesterday in Golfito, Costa Rica. He also said a 7-centimeter-long knife presented by the prosecution could have been a weapon used in the May 13, 2001, stabbing.
The photos from the autopsy
illustrated the gravity of the violence, showing the extent of Martin's suffering, said Peter Majerle, one of Stauffer's translators.
During yesterday's hearing, which lasted from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., prosecutors also brought the judges to the airport access road where Martin's body was found.
Martin died there while on a trip for her senior honors thesis. Martin, a 23-year-old Topeka senior, had visited Costa Rica the spring and summer before as well on a studyabroad trip.
The evidence presented yesterday may be enough to convince the tribunal to convict two of the three suspects — Kattia Cruz, 28; and Luis Castro, 32—said Jesse Ybarra, who helped the prosecution investigate Martin's death. The knife, along with a T-shirt found at the scene, point to Cruz and Castro's guilt, Ybarra said. There is not enough evidence to link the third suspect, Rafael Zumbado, 52, he said.
Defense attorneys were unavailable for comment last night.
The trial could continue at least another five days, Ybarra said, and judges could reach a verdict as soon as Nov. 20.
- Edited by Abby Sidesinger
Former diplomat details struggles
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
What most Americans may take for granted, Martin Buitora does not.
The former Slovakian ambassador to the United States and his wife, Zora Bütorova, visited Lawrence yesterday to talk with members of the KU community about the effects of democracy on his homeland.
Bütora and Bütonova are traveling across the country to explore relations between Slovakia and the
United States and to educate people on Slovakia's relatively new democracy. Bitora served as ambassador from 1999 until May of this year. He is now the honorary president and director of foreign policy studies at the Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Butorova said Slovakians looked at Americans with mixed reactions. She said older citizens thought negatively about the United States because their beliefs remained from earlier communist regimes, which Slovakia escaped in 1989. She said younger Slovakians differed from their elders and many
were interested in studying overseas.
Butorova said perceived social gaps caused cruel competition in the large American economy.
She said the couple planned to bring back an idea of community activism absent in Slovakia.
The couple said it faced a long road to a democratic society. The country's first political election was held five years ago, yet the couple said it remained hopeful.
Slovakia will be formally admitted to the European Union in May 2004 and expects to become a member of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization as the country makes its move toward financial stability.
"It will bring a new spirit, a new energy," Butora said. "especially to the civic dimension of Europe."
Alex Rose, Overland Park freshman, attended the talk and said he couldn't fathom not living in a democracy.
Edited by Joey Berlin
"It gave me a great insight into a nation and a community that I had previously been unaware of," Rose said. "To me, that's hard to imagine."
Senate to consider polling locations
By Paul Kramer
pkramer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Traditional polling sites may be making a return to campus for spring elections, pending a vote in full Student Senate next Wednesday.
This may not sound like a change from past elections, considering there has yet to be a University-wide election without polling sites, but sites were in fact voted out of practice earlier this fall.
A bill to reinstate polling sites passed in both the University affairs committee and the student rights committee last night.
The change made earlier this fall of rules and regulations eliminated the traditional polling sites in
favor of on-campus computer lab voting locations only. The change affected this year's fall freshman Senate elections and also would for the spring's elections.
Citing poor freshmen turnout in the recent election, Brian Thomas, University affairs committee member, co-wrote the bill to bring back the polling sites. Thomas' bill said only 4- to- 6 percent of eligible
freshmen participated.
Andy Knopp, student body president, opposed the return of traditional polling sites. Knopp said that the turnout from one freshman Senate election was not reason enough to think the new system would not work in the larger spring elections. Knopp said the spring's elections, which received more publicity and involved more campaigning, would be a better gauge of the effect on voter turnout.
Knopp also said that the financial benefits of doing away with polls were easily measurable and that projecting voter turnout was not. The Internet hardware, man
hours and other fees needed for outdoor polling sites cost Senate about $12,000 last year, Knopp said.
Kristan Seibel, Association of University Residence Hall senator, said polling sites were crucial to increase turnout.
"A lot of people turned away because they had to wait for computer labs." Seibel said.
Seibel said a lot of people didn't vote because they had to wait for a computer lab and that many did not vote in the recent freshmen elections because they did not know where to vote.
- Edited by Cate Batchelder
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