By Leland Baxter-Neal  Tico Times Staff

Eugenio Millot — the former boss of assassinated Costa Rican journalist Ivannia Mora and principal suspect in her death — saw charges against him and five codefendants dropped Monday by the Second Circuit Court in San José. The three presiding judges said procedural errors made by prosecutors rendered key testimony from two witnesses inadmissible, sweeping the legs out from under their case.

Mora, a recognized and esteemed business reporter and mother of a now 6-year-old daughter, was shot and killed as she sat in her car at a red light in Curridabat, east of San José, Dec. 23, 2003 (TT, Jan. 9, 2004). The assailants shot Mora twice through her car window before escaping on motorcycle though the congested holiday traffic.

Millot, who was Mora’s editor at Estrategia & Negocios – the business magazine where Mora worked before she quit in August 2003 to help launch a competing publication, Summa – was arrested at Juan Santamaría Intern ational Airport, northwest of San José, two days after Mora’s death. The suspect was preparing to board a plane to his native Uruguay. He was later released from custody.

The judges hearing the case said Monday that “essential” proof was improperly obtained and that the prosecution’s investigations and case had “deficiencies” and “incoherencies.”

Chief Prosecutor Francisco Dall’Anese yesterday defended his prosecutors’ handling of the case, noting that the evidence had been approved by judges since the beginning of the trial and challenging the judge’s criticisms. Dall’Anese said he would analyze the ruling once it is published in full – expected within the next 30 days – and appeal it to the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala III).