Prosecutors said Monday they will not retry an Arizona rancher whose trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury.

The jurors in the trial of George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial on April 22.

After the mistrial, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office had the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case.

Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men on his cattle ranch, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.

  • @Truth_Hurts
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    -22 months ago

    A group of men trespassing on property in the middle of ranch country means criminals usually.

    I would expect to get shot at if I was on a rancher’s land anywhere in the south USA, and probably most of the north also. It’s common sense.

    • @jwelch55@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Pretty sure the penalty for trespassing isn’t death… In any state… Why are you acting like death is expected for such a crime?