Arizona Judge Declares Mistrial in Case of Rancher Accused of Killing Migrant with a Firearm.
The case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border resulted in a mistrial declared by an Arizona judge on Monday.
After more than two full days of deliberation, jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision in the trial of 75-year-old George Alan Kelly, who was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea on Jan. 30, 2023.
Prosecutors alleged that Kelly fired recklessly from an AK-47 rifle at a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, on his cattle ranch about 100 yards away. Kelly claimed he fired warning shots in the air and did not aim at anyone directly.
The jurors visited Kelly’s ranch and a section of the border during the trial. The judge denied news media requests to accompany them.
Following the mistrial ruling, Consul General Marcos Moreno Baez of the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona, announced he would meet with prosecutors from Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office along with Cuen-Buitimea’s daughters to discuss the next steps.
Kelly had previously turned down an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to negligent homicide in exchange for a guilty plea.
In addition to the murder charge, Kelly was also accused of aggravated assault against another person in the group. The other migrants in the group, including a man from Honduras, were unharmed and returned to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea, a Nogales resident, had been deported from the U.S. multiple times prior to the incident.
The trial took place during a presidential election year that highlighted concerns about border security.
The judge instructed the jurors that if they could not reach a verdict on second-degree murder, they could consider a unanimous decision on a lesser charge such as reckless manslaughter or negligent homicide. A second-degree murder conviction would carry a minimum sentence of 10 years.
The jurors deliberated on Thursday afternoon and continued through Friday and Monday before the mistrial was declared.
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