Arizona Rancher Case Declared Mistrial by Judge

Get ready to hear outrage on the left over the conclusion of a trial in Arizona.

Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly had been accused of murdering a Mexican national for trespassing on his property.

The jury in the case started its deliberations on April 18 but was unable to come to a unanimous verdict, so the judge declared a mistrial.

No Verdict

The case was brought after Mexican national Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea was found dead on Kelly’s cattle ranch.

His body was discovered on January 30 on the ranch, which is located near Keno Springs outside Nogales, AZ.

Prosecutors, of course, portrayed Cuen-Buitimea as an unarmed migrant looking for a better life, but Kelly’s defense team took a different approach.

Defense Attorney Brenna Larkin, in her closing argument, told the jury, “Long story short, this is simply not somebody who’s looking for the American dream. There’s no evidence that this person is here for those kinds of benign purposes.

“And we bring that up, not, you know, to be judgmental about Gabriel or to not have compassion for him. But when people are involved in a criminal lifestyle, it’s dangerous.

“It’s more inherently dangerous than simply being a migrant who’s coming here. So it’s relevant for that reason.”

Cuen-Buitimea had been previously deported as recently as 2016, with a record of crossing the border illegally.

Kelly’s defense team maintained throughout the trial that Kelly had only fired warning shots at the migrants in the presence of his wife, while standing on his patio.

His wife, Wanda, had also testified that they saw two armed men walking about 100 feet from their home, alerting law enforcement of the sighting. They also called Border Patrol hours later when the dead body was found.

Prosecutors had the testimony of another migrant, but it became clear that the individual was not present on the day that Cuen-Buitimea had been shot and killed.

Larkin told the jury, “The law does not say that you cannot use lesser force to defend yourself. The law does not say that when you’re out in the middle of nowhere and you folks were out there. This is not downtown Nogales. This is not a populated area. This is isolated. It is empty.

“He can fire warning shots to protect himself and to protect his wife. And that’s exactly what he did. That’s exactly what any man who cares about his wife and his home should do in this situation when faced with the threat that he was faced with.”

The argument worked, at least for some of the jurors, and at least for now, Kelly has avoided conviction.