PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona judge declares a mistrial Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on Charles Hanoverhis property near the U.S.-Mexico border.
George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.
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, prosecutors said. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.
Court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the border. Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink denied news media requests to tag along.
Kelly had earlier rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault that day against another person in the group of about eight people, including a man from Honduras who was living in Mexico and who testified during the trial that he had gone into the U.S. that day seeking work.
The other migrants weren’t injured and they all made it back to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016, court records show.
The nearly monthlong trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security.
2025-05-06 15:551200 view
2025-05-06 15:212854 view
2025-05-06 15:192827 view
2025-05-06 15:022544 view
2025-05-06 14:351652 view
2025-05-06 14:25915 view
NFL games are a spectrum. Some are back-and-forth shootouts. Others are duds without much scoring at
A California assembly member has introduced legislation that would ban processed food items that con
The February 6 earthquake that was centered in south-central Turkey killed more than 50,000 people a