A judge declared a mistrial in the criminal case against George Alan Kelly, a 75-year-old Arizona rancher accused of fatally shooting a migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border. confirmed the court Monday evening.
The jurors had been deliberating since Thursday afternoon.
Kelly was charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 30, 2023, fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, a migrant who lived across the border in Nogales, Mexico . He had pleaded not guilty.
Law enforcement said Cuen-Buitimea was traveling with a group of migrants who ran when they saw Border Patrol agents in the area. Cuen-Buitimea and another migrant were apparently heading south of the border when they passed by Kelly’s ranch.
That’s when prosecutors alleged Kelly recklessly fired his AK-47 from a distance of about 115 yards, fatally striking Cuen-Buitimea in the back.
During the trial, prosecutors highlighted inconsistent statements Kelly made to law enforcement throughout the investigation.
According to prosecutors, Kelly first told Jeremy Marcel — a Border Patrol agent who worked as a ranch liaison — that he was fighting back after he was shot by a group of five armed individuals who were carrying backpacks. back and ran south.
Prosecutors said Kelly initially failed to tell law enforcement that he had fired his gun. Prosecutors said his story changed minutes later when he told law enforcement there was a group of about 10 to 15 people armed with AR-style rifles.
Authorities say Cuen-Buitimea was unarmed and could not find evidence that another weapon had been fired.
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“When you see two unarmed migrants walking south past two fences and you grab your AK-47, you walk out without saying a word, you point it at them and you shoot, would that be what What would a reasonable person do in this situation?” prosecutor Mike Jette asked the jury during his closing arguments. “The answer must be no.”
Kelly’s lawyers tried to pierce the prosecutor’s account of the incident and accused law enforcement officials of failing to follow up on other leads that would have cleared their client of any wrongdoing. They also accused law enforcement of falsely claiming that Kelly admitted to shooting multiple people.
“It wasn’t true, Alan never said that. The police weren’t listening and didn’t care, they had already decided he was guilty,” the lawyer said. defense Brenna Larkin.
The defense claimed Kelly was protecting himself and his wife and only fired warning shots several feet above the group.
Authorities were unable to find the bullet that hit Cuen-Buitimea. The defense claimed he was shot by another person in the group.
Lead Detective Jorge Ainza testified during the trial and told Kelly’s attorneys that he believed Kelly shot Cuen-Buitimea.
“There are no other shootings involved in this case. The victim was seriously injured by a high-powered rifle, an AK-47 rifle, which was fired directly from Mr. Kelly’s residence,” he said. he declared.
During the trial, jurors toured Kelly’s ranch. Investigators said they found a total of 9 shell casings outside his home, which matched shots fired in the direction of Cuen-Buitimea.
Jurors also heard testimony from Daniel Ramirez, a migrant who said he was with Cuen-Buitimea and who he said grabbed her chest and said, “I’m hit” before dying.
Ramirez said they were being smuggled into the United States and were not trafficking drugs. Ramirez admitted to smuggling marijuana on a previous occasion to reduce the fees he owed smugglers to get him across the border.
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Kelly was charged with aggravated assault against Ramirez.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages allegedly sent by Kelly, which prosecutors say showed his state of mind in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
“Drug cartel overflow. AK GTN LOTS OF WORK,” one text message read.
Court documents obtained by ABC News show another text message exchange between Kelly and a friend on November 23, 2022. The friend asked Kelly what her Thanksgiving plans were.
“PATROL THE EDGE 4 U NORTHENRS!” Kelly said.
“Shoot straight,” the friend replied.
“OR SHOOTING MANY ROUNDS!” Kelly replied.
Judge declares mistrial in case of Arizona rancher accused of killing unarmed migrant, originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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