Closing arguments set in trial of an Arizona rancher charged in fatal shooting of unarmed migrant
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Closing arguments are expected Thursday in the trial of an Arizona rancher charged with fatally shooting an unarmed migrant on his property near the U.S.-Mexico border last year.
George Alan Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the January 30, 2023, shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.
The more than two-week trial included jurors visiting Kelly’s nearly 170-acre (69-hectare) cattle ranch in Nogales, Arizona. Cuen-Buitimea, 48, was in a group of men that Kelly encountered. The other migrants weren’t injured and managed to escape back to Mexico.
The case has attracted national attention as border security continues to be a top issue this election year and garnered sympathy for the rancher from some on the political right. Court records show Cuen-Buitimea had previously entered the U.S. illegally several times and was deported, most recently in 2016.