Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly received a mistrial after he was accused of gunning down an unarmed Mexican migrant on his land because only one juror believed he was guilty.
Kelly, 75, was accused of killing Gabriel Cuen-Butimea on January 30, 2023, at his home in Nogales, near the border with Mexico.
His defense attorney, Kathy Lowthorp, said only one juror wanted to convict and seven wanted to acquit. The defense wanted the jury to continue deliberations, but the judge decided to end the case.
“We instinctively believed that there was no way for the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” she told reporters outside the courthouse.
“They won’t wear me down,” Kelly said after the decision, according to the Arizona Republic.
Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly received a mistrial after being accused of shooting and killing an unarmed Mexican migrant on his land because only one juror believed he was guilty.
Kelly’s defense attorney, Kathy Lowthorp, said only one juror wanted to convict and seven wanted to acquit. The defense wanted the jury to continue deliberations, but the judge decided to end the case.
Lowthorp believes the message the mistrial sends to prosecutors is clear: “Try again and maybe this time we’ll have fair, law-abiding juries.”
She promises to represent Kelly if he is forced to go to trial again.
Kelly is confident he will be acquitted if there is another trial: ”They want ice water in you-know-where. And they don’t have it. So, it is what it is.’
‘We have no choice. We have to do it,” she told the Arizona Daily Star. “If you’re in a sand trap, you have to keep hacking until you get out.”
The Santa Cruz County Prosecutor’s Office can still decide whether to retry Kelly on any charges or drop the case entirely. A status hearing is scheduled for next Monday afternoon, when prosecutors could tell the judge whether they plan to refile the case.
Many on social networks. have asked for Kelly to be free and to The county will not try him again..
The decision came after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision after more than two full days of deliberation.
DailyMail.com has contacted the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office for comment.
Kelly, 75, was accused of killing Gabriel Cuen-Butimea on January 30, 2023, at his home in Nogales, near the border with Mexico.
Kelly is confident he will be acquitted if there is another trial: ”They want ice water in you-know-where. And they don’t have it. So, it is what it is’
Prosecutors said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away on his cattle ranch.
After Monday’s ruling, Consul General Marcos Moreno Báez of the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona, said he would wait with Cuen-Buitimea’s two adult daughters Monday night to meet with prosecutors from the Santa County District Attorney’s Office. Cruz to learn more about the case. implications of a mistrial.
‘Mexico will follow the case and continue to accompany the family, who wants justice.’ Moreno said. “We hope for a very fair result.”
Kelly’s wife noted that the case has gone on for more than a year and continues to weigh on her family.
‘I feel like I’ve been on hold for 15 months, I’m getting nowhere and I’m still on that treadmill. We have to wait a little longer,” Wanda Kelly said.
Kelly was charged with second-degree murder for killing Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.
Prosecutors said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 90 meters (100 yards) away on his cattle ranch.
Kelly has said he fired warning shots into the air, but did not shoot directly at anyone.
Court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch, as well as a section of the frontier. Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink denied media requests to accompany him.
Kelly was charged with second-degree murder for killing Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border.
Kelly has said he fired warning shots into the air, but did not shoot directly at anyone. Pictured: Kelly leaving the courthouse on March 22 with her attorney Kathy Lowthorp.
County Attorney Michael Jette addresses jurors during closing arguments
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault that day against another person in the group, including a man from Honduras who lived in Mexico and who testified during the trial that he had gone to the United States that day to look for work.
The other migrants were not injured and all managed to return to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He had previously entered the United States illegally several times and was deported, the last time in 2016, court records show.
The trial, which lasted nearly a month, coincided with a presidential election year that has sparked widespread interest in border security.
Fink had told jurors that if they couldn’t reach a verdict on the second-degree murder charge, they could try to get a unanimous decision on a lesser charge of manslaughter or negligent homicide.
A conviction for second-degree murder would have carried a minimum prison sentence of ten years.
The jury received the case Thursday afternoon, deliberated briefly that day and then all of Friday and Monday before the judge declared a mistrial.