Posted on 02/24/2023 5:05:40 PM PST by Golden Eagle
A 73-year-old rancher accused of killing an illegal alien on his property has had the charge downgraded from first- to second-degree murder.
George Alan Kelly was charged after a Mexican national was found shot dead on his Arizona ranch last month. The property is roughly a mile and a half from the border with Mexico.
Fox News reported that the charge was amended Friday in Santa Cruz County Justice Court.
Brenna Larkin, Kelly’s court-appointed attorney, entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of her client.
Larkin addressed the decision to downgrade the charge.
“That’s a significant change in the charge,” she said. “Second-degree murder is, frankly, a more complicated theory of the case for both the state and the defense.”
Kelly was released on a $1 million bond this week. He received the money via donations to the Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo.
Larkin has stated in court filings that Kelly feared for his life as a number of armed men walked through his property on Jan. 30. The attorney also said Kelly heard a gunshot, according to KSAZ-TV.
“The leader of the armed group of men saw Mr. Kelly and pointed an AK-47 right at him,” Larkin wrote.
“Mr. Kelly, fearing for his life and safety, fired several shots from his rifle, hoping to scare them away from him, his wife, his animals, and his home.
“As he shot, Mr. Kelly took care to aim well over the heads of the armed group of men. The group then began running into the desert surrounding his home.”
Larkin said that later in the day, Kelly found the body of a man identified as Gabriel Cuen-Butimea.
“He does not believe that any of his warning shots could have possibly hit the person or caused the death,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
It sounds like the warning shot may have stuck this man who was not with the group he was trying to scare off.
The process is the punishment.
If the sheriff is a liberal stooge then the people of that county should be recruiting a replacement NOW. sheriff is an elected office.
I heard that no bullet has been found. If that’s true, I would think the prosecution has no case.
Yup. Something is definitely not right about this story.
It sounds more like a set up designed to intimidate the rest of us into compliance by making an example of him.
Hard to claim, in my view, that one was in fear of their life if they didn’t think it necessary to aim and shoot at the supposed threat itself and instead fired warning shots .
“Absolutely. Isn’t there any Castle Doctrine in Arizona?”
I don’t know about Arizona but in Michigan, one can’t use deadly force to defend property. The guy screwed up by admitting he fired warning shots which implies he wasn’t in fear for his life or felt he was in danger of serious physical harm.
Like other elections, they are rigged. the peoples votes don’t matter whatsoever. Corruption controls. Come on people, wake up to the realities.
The absolutely disturbing factor here is that no investigation occurred first. they charged him first. That is not supposed to be how things work in this country..
My question is what will it take for people to start coming together to offer resistance to this nonsense?
“I heard that no bullet has been found. If that’s true, I would think the prosecution has no case.”
Where did you hear that?
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