PHOENIX — An Arizona judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The decision came after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision after more than two full days of deliberation in the trial of George Alan Kelly, 75, who was charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea. .
“Based on the jury’s inability to reach a verdict on any charge,” said Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink, “this case is a mistrial.”
The Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office can still decide whether to retry Kelly on any charges or drop the case.
A status hearing has been scheduled for next Monday afternoon, when prosecutors can tell the judge whether they plan to refile the case. Prosecutors did not immediately respond to emailed requests for additional comment.
Kelly was charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.
Prosecutors said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle at a group of men, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 300 feet away on his cattle ranch. Kelly 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 portion of the border. Fink denied media requests to accompany him.
Following Monday’s ruling, Consul General Marcos Moreno Baez of the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona, said he would wait with Cuen-Buitimea’s two adult daughters on Monday night to meet with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. of Santa Cruz County to learn about the implications of a mistrial. .
“Mexico will continue to follow the case and support the family, who want justice,” said Moreno. “We expect a very fair result.”
Kelly’s defense attorney, Brenna Larkin, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment after the ruling was issued. Larkin asked Fink that jurors continue deliberating another day.
Kelly had already rejected a deal with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to a manslaughter charge had he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also charged with aggravated assault that day against another person in the group of about eight people, including a Honduran man who lived in Mexico and who testified during the trial that he had gone to the U.S. that day to look for work.
The other migrants were not injured and all managed to return to Mexico.
Cuen-Buitimea lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016, court records show.
The trial, which lasted nearly a month, coincided with a presidential election year that sparked widespread interest in border security.
Fink told jurors that if they were unable to reach a verdict on the second-degree murder charge, they could try to reach a unanimous decision on a lesser charge of manslaughter or manslaughter. A second-degree murder conviction would have carried a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.
The jury heard the case on Thursday afternoon, deliberated briefly that day and then throughout Friday and Monday.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
