On Monday, a judge declared a mistrial in the controversial case against Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, who was accused of shooting and killing an illegal alien to protect his property last year.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the 75-yea-rold Kelly was charged on January 30th, 2023 with second-degree murder and aggravated assault for the shooting of the 48-year-old illegal alien, who was crossing Kelly’s property near the southern border. Closing arguments were given on Thursday, allowing the jury to deliberate. The jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision on either count, thus leading to the judge declaring a mistrial.
Outside the courthouse after the mistrial, defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp confirmed that the problem was one single juror who refused to consider a “not guilty” vote and insisted that Kelly was “guilty.” While the prosecution argued that prolonging the deadlock would be coercive for the jury, Kelly’s defense argued that the deliberations should continue.
“There was one hold out for guilt, the rest were not guilty. So seven not guilty, one guilty,” Lowthorp confirmed. “We believe in our gut that there was no way the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The illegal alien was traveling with a group of illegals at the time, and had been in the process of running away from Border Patrol agents when they passed through Kelly’s ranch. The defense insisted that Kelly had only fired warning shots over the illegals’ heads, but the illegal was found dead from a gunshot wound to the back; Kelly claimed that the whole group of illegals was armed with AR-style rifles, and that the fatal shot was fired by someone else in the group. Authorities never recovered the bullet that passed through the illegal’s body.
One illegal who was part of the group at the time, Daniel Ramirez, admitted to having smuggled marijuana across the border in the past, thus confirming that the group of illegals had ill intentions and were not simply seeking to cross the border by themselves.
Following the mistrial, Kelly himself spoke to reporters, saying “it is what it is, and it will be what it will be. Let me go home, okay? That alright with y’all? It is what it is and it will be what it will be. I will keep fighting forever. I won’t stop.”
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday, April 29th.