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.—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. Kelly’s acquittal on charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, his life is all but ruined.
“First of all, [Mr. Kelly] lost a lot of money,” Mr. Kelly’s Texas-based lawyer, Kathy Lowthorp, told The Epoch Times.
“He had to get a legal defense. He had to pay for his lawyers. He had to pay for his bond,” estimated at $1 million, Ms. Lowthorp said. “He had to stay on his property with no guns to protect himself with this thing going around him” as a condition of his release.
“Let’s talk [lost] reputation,” the attorney said.
She said Mr. Kelly and Wanda, his wife of 54 years, were “rooted in the community,” having lived on their 170-acre ranch near the U.S.–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 “bigot.”
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 Kelly’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 7–1 vote to acquit.
“Mr. Kelly was so scared he couldn’t get a fair jury,” Ms. Lowthorp said. “I think people underestimated the jury pool—and especially this group. I knew I had a decent group right from the beginning.”
By Allan Stein
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