Prosecutors say they will not retry an Arizona rancher accused of murder near the US-Mexico border

https://apnews.com/article/us-mexico-border-rancher-migrant-killed-trial-877c1740e69bb576717873fd31961309

Prosecutors said Monday they will not retry an Arizona rancher whose trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury.

The jurors in the trial of George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial on April 22.

After the mistrial, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office had the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case.

…

Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men on his cattle ranch, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

79 points · 11 comments · view on lemmy.world

11 Comments

xmunk@sh.itjust.works · 49 pts · 2y (6 replies)

They weren't warning shots if he hit them... why the fuck isn't this an open-shut case - he shot someone, that's at least manslaughter.

Alteon@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 2y

It's not murder if your fellow white men see it as acceptable, I guess.

Yeah.....this is fucked.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 2y (2 replies)

This should have, at the very least, been tried as a federal hate crime.

gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Absolutely should have been, but the Biden administration has decided trying to appease racist douchebags is the way to go with all of their policies towards migrants and asylum seekers so don't hold your breath on that one

disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y

Border security legislation is created by Congress. Do you have an example of legislation or action from Biden that supports persecution of migrants or asylum seekers?

ickplant@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 2y

Cause he was tried by a jury of his peers, half of whom think this is A-OK and to be encouraged.

quindraco@lemm.ee · 1 pts · 2y

For one thing, he was charged with second-degree murder. The prosecutor would have to charge him with manslaughter (and/or negligent homicide), which would require competence.

The fact that the prosecutor is simply dropping the case instead tells you immediately how incompetent they are.

gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 2y (1 reply)

Well, they'll probably get another shot at it anyway, because this rancher seems delusional and violent as hell so he's probably going to kill some more people before too long

In real life, Kelly also seemed to see himself as a grizzled hero in the Clint Eastwood mold, doing battle against a criminal enterprise. Three weeks before the shooting, he texted a friend, “OVERUN WITH DRUG CARTEL. AK GTN A LOT OF WORK.” A week after that, he exchanged messages with his son Matt:

Alan Kelly: 33 DRUG RUNNERS THIS WK…AK 47 HOT.WANNA B BACK UP?

Matt Kelly: Nope ✋. Be careful.

Alan Kelly: CAREFUL IS NOT AN OPTION. IT IS EITHER FIGHT OR RUN AND IM TO OLD TO RUN. MOM IS L NL [locked and loaded] ALSO.

Kelly seemed baffled, at times even wounded, that law enforcement saw things differently. Investigators found no drugs or weapons on Cuen-Buitimea’s body. In his backpack, he’d carried cans of tuna, tissues, and extra clothing, including a hoodie that read “Treat People with Kindness.” He also had a radio on his belt—evidence that, according to the defense team, he’d possibly served as a scout or a guide. A photograph on his phone showed him standing on a ridge with binoculars around his neck. Larkin and Lowthorp spun this into lurid theories involving rip crews, cartel hits, and fentanyl trafficking. The prosecution offered a countervailing archetype: Cuen-Buitimea as a man seeking, as they repeatedly put it, “the American Dream.”

...

When Ramirez eventually testified, through a court interpreter, he painted a picture of migration that was more muddled, and less cinematic, than the attorneys’ narratives. In the course of several years, he had illegally crossed into the U.S. eight or ten times, paying around twenty-five hundred dollars on most occasions. Once, in lieu of the fee, he’d carried marijuana with him. Each time, he’d been caught and deported back to Mexico. Last year, he and Cuen-Buitimea decided to make another attempt, with the goal of settling in Phoenix and getting roofing and construction jobs. They joined a group led by a man Ramirez knew only as El Cholo. They crossed into the U.S. without incident, but after an hour and a half of walking through the desert they encountered the Border Patrol. As the group scattered, the two men stuck together. When Cuen-Buitimea and Ramirez paused to catch their breath, Ramirez heard shots, then saw his friend fall. He ran back across the border into Mexico. “I was throwing up because I was so nervous,” Ramirez testified. “I was vomiting and vomiting and vomiting.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20240430115704/https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/what-george-kellys-mistrial-says-about-how-we-see-the-border

LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

including a hoodie that read “Treat People with Kindness.”

Heartbreaking

Truth_Hurts@lemmus.org · -2 pts · 2y (1 reply)

A group of men trespassing on property in the middle of ranch country means criminals usually.

I would expect to get shot at if I was on a rancher's land anywhere in the south USA, and probably most of the north also. It's common sense.

jwelch55@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y

Pretty sure the penalty for trespassing isn't death... In any state... Why are you acting like death is expected for such a crime?