LOADINGERROR LOADINGWhen George Alan Kelly saw a group of camouflaged men traveling across his 170-acre ranch on Jan. 30, 2023, he suspected the worst. Drug traffickers frequently pass through the area outside Kino Springs, Arizona, which lies about two miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Both Kelly and his wife, Wanda, later told police that they saw at least one of the trespassers carrying a rifle. Kelly said that when he confronted the intruders, one of them pointed a rifle toward him. In response, Kelly said he fired warning shots from his AK-47 above the group’s heads. Advertisement
Arizona prosecutors tell a different story. The state accuses Kelly, 75, of shooting an unarmed migrant named Gabriel Cuen Butimea in the back from a concealed position. Cuen Butimea died on Kelly’s property. No one in the group carried either guns or drugs, prosecutors say — they were cutting through Kelly’s ranch on their way to Phoenix, where they planned to work as roofers. Kelly faces charges of second degree murder and aggravated assault. “Kelly issued no warnings and made no requests,” prosecutors wrote in court filings. “He just started shooting at them.” The case, which goes to trial on Friday, is now spurring a debate that fuses two of the country’s most polarizing issues — guns and immigration — in a purple state that could play an outsize role in this year’s presidential election. George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Arizona, on Feb. 22, 2023. Kelly, faces a first-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via Associated PressAdvertisement
Arizona Republicans are pushing a law that would expand the state’s Castle Doctrine to allow people to use deadly force if they feel threatened when confronting trespassers. The law’s author, Rep. Justin Heap, told the state’s House Judiciary Committee last month that the change was needed to help ranchers remove trespassers from their property, specifically noting the problem of unauthorized migrant trespassers. Democratic opponents liken it to legalizing murder, contending that it will encourage people to shoot migrants traveling through expansive borderland ranches.Heap, who did not respond to interview requests, told the House Judiciary Committee last month that he filed the bill at the …
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Arizona prosecutors tell a different story. The state accuses Kelly, 75, of shooting an unarmed migrant named Gabriel Cuen Butimea in the back from a concealed position. Cuen Butimea died on Kelly’s property. No one in the group carried either guns or drugs, prosecutors say — they were cutting through Kelly’s ranch on their way to Phoenix, where they planned to work as roofers. Kelly faces charges of second degree murder and aggravated assault. “Kelly issued no warnings and made no requests,” prosecutors wrote in court filings. “He just started shooting at them.” The case, which goes to trial on Friday, is now spurring a debate that fuses two of the country’s most polarizing issues — guns and immigration — in a purple state that could play an outsize role in this year’s presidential election. George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Arizona, on Feb. 22, 2023. Kelly, faces a first-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, who lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico.Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via Associated PressAdvertisement
Arizona Republicans are pushing a law that would expand the state’s Castle Doctrine to allow people to use deadly force if they feel threatened when confronting trespassers. The law’s author, Rep. Justin Heap, told the state’s House Judiciary Committee last month that the change was needed to help ranchers remove trespassers from their property, specifically noting the problem of unauthorized migrant trespassers. Democratic opponents liken it to legalizing murder, contending that it will encourage people to shoot migrants traveling through expansive borderland ranches.Heap, who did not respond to interview requests, told the House Judiciary Committee last month that he filed the bill at the …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]