Prosecutors reconvene after deadlocked jury in trial over Arizona border killing

2024-12-24 09:39:17 source: category:Back

PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors are headed back to court Monday afternoon to announce whether they will retry an Arizona rancher after a jury deadlocked last week over whether or not to convict him in the shooting of a Mexican man on his property.

The jurors in the case against 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 has the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case.

The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month in Nogales, which is on the border with Mexico. The rancher had been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, killing of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea outside Nogales, Arizona.

Cuen-Buitimea had lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He was in a group of men that Kelly encountered that day on his cattle ranch. His two adult daughters, along with Mexican consular officials, met with prosecutors last week to learn about the implications of a mistrial.

Prosecutors had 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. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

READ MORE Interstate near Arizona-New Mexico line reopens after train derailment as lingering fuel burns off Crews plan to extinguish fire Saturday night from train derailment near Arizona-New Mexico line Inside the head-spinning week of Donald Trump’s legal drama

The trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. During the trial, court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Earlier, Kelly had rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.

Kelly was also accused of aggravated assault of another person in the group of about eight people.

More:Back

Recommend

Candidates line up for special elections to replace Virginia senators recently elected to US House

Follow AP’s coverage of the election and what happens next. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — One of two speci

The One Where Jennifer Aniston Owns the 2024 Sag Awards Red Carpet

It's not that common, it doesn't happen to everyone, and it is a big deal. And by that we're talking

8 killed after head-on crash in California farming region

Seven farmworkers traveling in a van and the driver of a pickup truck were killed Friday in a head-o