Defense attorneys for Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly acknowledged to Fox News Digital that while the rest of the jury is seeking acquittal, there is a “lone holdout” who wants a conviction. Ta.
Arizona Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink said Monday that jurors were unable to unanimously convict Kelly of second-degree murder or the lesser offenses of manslaughter, negligent homicide and aggravated assault. , declared the case ended in a miscarriage of justice. deadly weapon. Fink scheduled a status hearing for Monday, April 29, at 1:30 p.m.
“The state can review the circumstances and decide whether to ask the court to reset this case for trial,” Fink said at a hearing next week.
The defense team told Fox News Digital, “The jury’s verdict was that seven people were innocent, and one was the only defense attorney who was stubborn and refused to listen to the evidence.” “All the other jurors were upset about it.”
The jury remained deadlocked after deliberating for more than 15 hours starting Thursday.
“They won’t wear me out,” Kelly told the court about the possibility of a second trial, according to AZ Central.
“I feel like I’ve been suspended for 15 months and I’m still on the treadmill, not getting anywhere. I just have to wait a little longer,” Kelly’s wife, Wanda Kelly, said in Monday’s report. It must be done,” he added. outlet.
Arizona rancher’s defense consultant alleges ‘cartel influence’ in murder investigation, reveals sheriff’s past comments
Fox News Digital reached out to Santa Cruz County District Attorney George Silva’s office Tuesday, but there was no immediate response.
George Alan Kelly enters for a preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court on February 22, 2023 in Nogales, Arizona. (Mark Henle/Arizona Republic via Associated Press, Pool, File)
Kelly’s attorney, Brenna Larkin, said in closing arguments last week that prosecutors said the deceased, Mexican national Gabriel Cuen-Buytimea, was an “unarmed immigrant pursuing the American dream” before he was found shot to death. He said there was no evidence to support his claims. January 30, 2023 at Kelly’s 170-acre ranch near Kino Springs, outside Nogales, Arizona.
The defense argued that prosecutors had not been able to prove that Quyen-Buytimea was shot by Kelly’s gun. The defense argued that Kelly had only fired a warning shot into the air from his patio earlier that day, and that Wanda Kelly testified about making the phone call. Border Patrol Ranch Liaison Officer They found two armed men wearing camouflage clothing and carrying rifles and backpacks walking about 100 feet from the home. Several hours passed before law enforcement responded to the scene and Kelly called Border Patrol again to report finding the body about 115 meters from the ranching couple’s residence.
Dr. Ron Martinelli, a criminologist who is working pro bono as a consultant for Kelly’s defense team, went to interview Honduran Daniel Ramirez, who prosecutors allege was a police officer, several weeks after the shooting at Kelly’s ranch. He criticized Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway’s testimony that he crossed the border into Mexico. He was the only person to witness Quen-Buytimer’s death. Larkin said, based on Ramirez’s own testimony, that he was not present.
Although not on the day of the shooting, Ramirez testified that he had previously trafficked drugs across the border and had been deported multiple times. Furthermore, the defense argued that the investigation was muddy due to the influence of cartels.
Hathaway, who recorded only about six minutes of a 40-minute interview with Ramirez, was questioned about the conduit for arranging the meeting in Mexico, Juan Carlos Rodriguez.
Martinelli told Fox News Digital that Rodriguez is a twice-convicted felon, first for aggravated assault and domestic violence after strangling his girlfriend, and then serving an additional two years in prison. He said the district attorney’s office was forced to reveal this to the defense team. Transport of arms to the United States. ”
George Alan Kelly watches closing arguments Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Santa Cruz County Superior Court in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
“The Sinaloa Cartel and Maras Manos are not allowing independent people to bring guns or traffic guns into the United States,” Martinelli told Fox News Digital last week while jury deliberations were still ongoing. Told.
Wife of Arizona rancher George Alan Kelley testifies in murder trial about armed groups near border area
“to me, [Hathaway] “Mr. Martinelli has fully admitted that he violated Mexican law and U.S. State Department protocol in conducting an international investigation in Mexico,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “I would like to express my condolences,” he said, citing the justification that he had done so. “To my family” is unbelievable. You know, we’re supposed to think that his MO is that every time a Mexican dies in a violent crime in Nogales, he goes abroad himself to offer his condolences? I mean, it’s beyond common sense. ”
Mr. Martinelli also challenged investigators from the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office. “They continued to believe these people over two law-abiding and cooperative American citizens after learning who they were months after this investigation began,” the consultants said. added.
The defense also pressed Hathaway on the stand about a YouTube video in which the sheriff mentioned the Kelly incident and claimed the rancher was “going to hunt Mexicans.”
Prosecutor Michael Jett addresses the jury during closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
“As soon as we heard the sheriff’s story and saw the video, for us, the sheriff was the driving force behind the arrest and continued prosecution of George Alan Kelly. And this is my opinion. I believe it was in furtherance of his political agenda to seek re-election as sheriff,” Martinelli said last week, calling for an investigation into Hathaway and the Sheriff’s Department regardless of the outcome of the incident. He vowed to file a personal complaint with the state attorney general’s office. “If this was the U.S. Department of Justice and there was a civil rights violation of this magnitude, the Justice Department would step in, the FBI would jump right in and investigate, and they would look at what we’re calling.” The consent order against this agency is completely strange. These people should not have badges of authority. ”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department again about the defense consultant’s allegations on Tuesday, but did not immediately receive a response.
“We’re not here to solve mysteries,” Larkin said Thursday. “And the truth is, we’ll probably never know what really happened to Gabriel. And we won’t know because the investigation into this case is so rushed to its conclusion. They didn’t investigate when they should have. They preserved evidence that they should have done. They didn’t do the tests that they should have done. And now we can’t know. ”
“We all live in Santa Cruz County. I live in Santa Cruz County. You all live in Santa Cruz County,” Larkin said. “After considering all the evidence in this case, if you imagine that one day you will find a body on your property, hopefully that will not happen. If one day you find a body on your property… Even if I had to, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know how it got there, but I think I would consider my options before calling them.”
Testimony also revealed that the fatal bullet was never recovered from the scene. Martinelli also previously told Fox News Digital that none of the state witnesses in the trial testified that the Rip Crew (a group of robbers, sometimes affiliated with cartels) may have shot and killed Quyen Buittimea and robbed him. He said he had not provided any testimony rebutting his side’s theory. .
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Prosecutor Mike Jett argued in closing arguments that there was “no justification” for using deadly physical force when he saw “two unarmed men walking two fences apart.” He then claimed that Kelly pulled out an AK-47 and went out onto the back patio and did nothing. A verbal warning was given to him and he was shot nine times. The defense said Kelly would have been justified in using deadly physical force, but the elderly rancher was not.
Larkin added that there is nothing in the law that prevents him from using less force to protect himself and his wife on a “remote ranch.”
