State granted stay in case against Arizona rancher accused of murder
- The body of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea was found on the ranch
- Kelly maintains he only fired warning shots
- A trial date has not been set
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KINO SPRINGS, Ariz. (NewsNation) — An Arizona rancher accused of shooting and killing a migrant on his property will continue to wait for his day in court after the state was granted a stay in the case against him.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin Sept. 6 in the case against George Alan Kelly, but there is no trial date for now.
The 74-year-old rancher was charged with second-degree murder after Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea was found dead from a gunshot wound on the rancher’s Kino Springs property. He claims he only fired warning shots above the migrants who were trespassing on his property but did not shoot them.
“I maintained I’ve done the right thing throughout,” Kelly previously told NewsNation.
Lawyers for Kelly say he was protecting his property, but court documents from prosecutors say Kelly bragged about shooting people. Prosecutors even compared the 75-year-old to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.
The state wanted to admit text messages into the court between Kelly and another individual that suggested Kelly had put “27 migrants in the ground who were growing daisies.” However, the judge declined to admit the messages.
Some of the questions on the jury selection questionnaire include whether they believe the law applies the same to those above 70, if they have family who own firearms and whether any of their family members have entered the U.S. illegally.
