One juror, who refused to acquit Nogales rancher George Alan Kelly, was the lone holdout in the closely watched murder trial, according to Kellyโs defense team.
The jury was split 7 to 1 in favor of acquittal, defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star on Tuesday.
Kelly is accused of killing an unarmed migrant on his property last year. Lowthorp said heโs received โa tonโ of support and the Kelly family is grateful and optimistic, despite facing the possibility of a retrial, she said.
โThey would have loved to have an ending to this story,โ she said. โThey know it was a victory, but not the 100% victory they were hoping for.โ
Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial Monday due to the deadlock. Jurors had deliberated for about 16 hours following the nearly four-week trial, which drew national attention.
Prosecutor Kim Hunley, chief deputyย Santa Cruz county attorney, is expected to announce at a Monday status hearing whether the case is headed for a retrial or not. Kelly is charged with second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Fink had instructed the jury that they could consider lesser charges of manslaughter or negligent homicide, if they couldnโt agree to convict on the second-degree murder charge.
Hunley declined to comment after the mistrial ruling. Prosecutor Mike Jette said Tuesday he couldnโt comment on the case at this time.
Representatives from the Mexican consulate in Nogales, Arizona followed the case closely and have been supporting the family of Mexican national Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, whom prosecutors say was killed by a bullet from Kellyโs AK-47 last year.
Cuen Buitimeaโs body was found 115 yards from Kellyโs patio, where law enforcement recovered nine spent bullet casings from Kellyโs AK-47. The bullet that killed Cuen Buitimea was never found.
Nogales Consul General Marcos Moreno Bรกez said his office was โsurprisedโ by Mondayโs outcome but trusts justice will prevail.
โWe will continue to accompany Mr. Cuen Buitimeaโs family very closely,โ Moreno Bรกez said in a Tuesday email. โBoth the young daughters of Mr. Cuen Buitimea are devastated but they will continue to seek justice.โ
Moreno Bรกez said the prosecution showed Cuen Buitimea was an innocent victim, despite defense attorneysโ efforts to paint him as involved in criminal activities.
โIn the 17 days of hearings, and the concluding remarks of both parties, it was clear that Mr. Gabriel Cuen Buitimea was no threat to anyone,โ he said. โHe was walking unarmed towards Mexico and there was nothing to suggest his involvement in alleged illegal activities. He was shot in the back with an AK-47, an unprovoked deadly attack while being hundred yards from the suspectโs residence.โ
On Tuesday, Lowthorp reiterated the defenseโs argument that the investigation into Cuen Buitimeaโs death was biased from the start. She said the Border Patrol ranch liaison, to whom Kelly reported Cuen Buitimeaโs body, falsely conveyed to the sheriffโs office that Kelly had said he shot someone. So detectives came into the investigation believing Kelly had stated that he shot someone and failed to investigate other possible culprits, she said.
โIt was that old game of telephone. From then on, the investigation was shot,โ Lowthorp said.
During the trial, prosecutors Hunley and Jette argued Kelly was evasive and inconsistent when he reported finding Cuen Buitimeaโs body to a Border Patrol ranch liaison, suggesting Kelly thought the matter could be โbrushed under the rug.โ
Later, speaking with a 911 dispatcher, prosecutors say Kelly tried hard to avoid saying heโd found a dead person on his property. Instead, Kelly described Cuen Buitimeaโs body as that of โan animal โ itโs not a vegetable or a mineral.โ
Kelly only admitted that he had fired his AK-47 about 30 minutes into a 50-minute interview with detectives that night, prosecutors said. That was after also failing to tell other law enforcement officers on his property earlier in the day that he had fired his weapon.
Defense attorneys said Santa Cruz County detectives โbrowbeatโ Kelly during an interrogation. But prosecutors quoted Kelly telling detectives they were โvery professional.โ
Lowthorp told the Star she got to speak to two jurors, who voted to acquit, for about 30 minutes after court recessed on Monday. The jurors conveyed they thought the defenseโs narrative was effective and thorough, she said. Still, Lowthorp said the defense might adjust its strategy somewhat if the prosecutors decide to re-try the case.
โYou gotta do something to keep them (prosecutors) on their toes,โ she said.
Lowthorp said the only other hung jury sheโs encountered in her 24-year career resulted in a retrial and eventual acquittal for her client.
She said she hopes people โsay some prayers for Monday, that we donโt have to go through this again.โ
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