Arizona Rancher Considers Moving After Murder Trial on Border

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People close to the case say George Alan Kelly and his wife have lost nearly everything, including a sense of belonging in the community they considered home.

NOGALES, Ariz.โ€”Observers say it took 75-year-old Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly just 15 months to lose nearly everything he worked for: his life savings, the home that was his paradise, and his good name.

Despite a deadlocked jury resulting in Mr. Kellyโ€™s acquittal on charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, his life is all but ruined.

โ€œFirst of all, [Mr. Kelly] lost a lot of money,โ€ Mr. Kellyโ€™s Texas-based lawyer, Kathy Lowthorp, told The Epoch Times.

โ€œHe had to get a legal defense. He had to pay for his lawyers. He had to pay for his bond,โ€ estimated at $1 million, Ms. Lowthorp said. โ€œHe had to stay on his property with no guns to protect himself with this thing going around himโ€ as a condition of his release.

โ€œLetโ€™s talk [lost] reputation,โ€ the attorney said.

She said Mr. Kelly and Wanda, his wife of 54 years, were โ€œrooted in the community,โ€ having lived on their 170-acre ranch near the U.S.โ€“Mexico border in Nogales, Arizona, for more than a decade.

They are now thinking about moving back to their home state of North Carolina as they no longer feel safe in the community where some people view Mr. Kelly as a โ€œbigot.โ€

His mistrial aside, Ms. Lowthorp said that some residents still believe Mr. Kelly shot and killed Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, who was trespassing on the Kellyโ€™s property on Jan. 30, 2023.

A jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly three days before returning on April 22., unable to reach a verdict after the monthlong trial in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial when the jury came back, stuck on a 7โ€“1 vote to acquit.

โ€œMr. Kelly was so scared he couldnโ€™t get a fair jury,โ€ Ms. Lowthorp said. โ€œI think people underestimated the jury poolโ€”and especially this group. I knew I had a decent group right from the beginning.โ€

Byย Allan Stein

Read Full Article on TheEpochTimes.com

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