Prosecutors will not retry George Alan Kelly, rancher accused of shooting a migrant to death

Prosecutors in Santa Cruz County, Arizona failed in their attempt and chose not to try George Alan Kelly for a second time after his first murder trial ended in a mistrial. The Arizona rancher accused of shooting and killing an unarmed migrant on his property near the US-Mexico border.

“Due to the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding this case, the Santa County Attorney’s Office has decided not to request a new trial,” Deputy County Attorney Kimberly Hunley said at a status hearing on the case.

When prosecutors made their announcement, Kelly could be seen bowing his head and seemed overcome with emotion.

Another hearing will now be set to consider the defense’s request to dismiss the case with prejudice.

Last Monday, a judge declared a mistrial in the case after jurors could not reach a consensus on whether to charge Kelly with second-degree murder and aggravated assault.

Kelly was accused of firing his AK-47 from a great distance at a group of migrants heading back across the border into Mexico.

Prosecutors said Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, a migrant who lived across the border in Nogales, Mexico, and was looking for work, was fatally shot. Law enforcement officials were never able to recover the bullet, and Kelly’s attorneys tried to make clear that someone else could have shot him. No other weapons were found in the area.

Prosecutors alleged that Kelly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle at a group of illegal immigrants who had illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

In his defense, Kelly claimed that he simply fired warning shots, rather than intentionally shooting anyone.

In addition, he noted that the rancher found the Mexican’s body hours after the events, during a tour of his land. However, his first call was to Border Patrol and not emergency services reporting that he had found the body of “an animal.”

The case has generated controversy on both sides of the border, with followers of former President Donald Trump calling Kelly a “hero” and “patriot” for defending their lands from the “invasion” of migrants and drug traffickers.

The trial began March 22 and included jurors visiting Kelly’s nearly 170-acre cattle ranch in Nogales, Arizona.

Early in the process, Kelly rejected a deal with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to negligent homicide if he had pleaded guilty.

Cuén Buitimea’s daughters lamented the outcome of the trial in an interview with Telemundo, explaining that their father only crossed the border “from time to time” in search of work and that Kelly had “no right” to take his life.

Keep reading:

• Trial against Arizona rancher accused of killing Mexican migrant will be in March
• The case of Gabriel Cuen, the Mexican migrant who was shot to death on a farmer’s border ranch in Arizona
• Elderly Arizona rancher accused of killing a Mexican man in the back alleged he is being framed by drug traffickers