Ariz. Rancher Who Fatally Shot Migrant on His Property Near Border Rejects Plea Deal, Will Face Murder Trial

Arizona’s court of appeals ruled that George Alan Kelly’s wife can be called to the stand in his March trial

Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea was among a group of migrants crossing the border into Arizona when rancher George Alan Kelly fired his AK-47, killing the 48-year-old man Jan. 30 last year, according to authorities.

The migrants were unarmed when they had wandered onto Kelly’s 170-acre cattle ranch in the Kino Springs area, according to authorities, per The Associated Press. Kelly shot from about 100 yards away, fatally striking Cuen-Buitimea.

No one else was injured and the other migrants dashed back to the Mexican side of the border, the AP reports.

The 75-year-old rancher — who is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault, according to court records reviewed by PEOPLE — declined a plea deal from prosecutors that would have reduced the charges to a single count of negligent homicide with an eight year prison sentence attached, per Tucson’s 13 News.

Kelly’s defense lawyer, Brenna Larkin, virtually appeared at the Wednesday hearing in Arizona’s Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

“We have discussed that plea with Mr. Kelly,” she told the judge, on behalf of the rancher who also attended virtually. “It is his intention to reject that plea.”

If convicted of the original charges, Kelly — who pleaded not guilty March 6 — could now face as much as 24 and a half years behind bars.

Larkin — who could not immediately be reached by PEOPLE — has argued to the court per the AP, that Kelly fired the shots in the air because he was in fear of his safety and the security of his wife and property.

Cuen-Buitimea — of Nogales, in the Northwestern state of Sonora, which is plagued by cartel violence — had crossed into the United States multiple times but been deported, most recently in 2016, according to court records obtained by the AP.

The man’s death and Kelly’s subsequent incarceration has ignited controversy amidst the country-wide debate on border security and asylum rights that is a focus of the 2024 presidential election.

In early interviews with detectives, Kelly’s wife, Wanda Kelly, told Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office detectives that the couple had seen people on their property who were carrying guns and backpacks, per an Arizona vice chief judge’s narrative of the investigation, filed in an appeals decision reviewed by PEOPLE.

However, authorities allege only Kelly had a gun, according to the Associated Press.

In Wanda’s telling, per the judge, her husband instructed her to be quiet and she hid inside the house while Kelly went outside to investigate. Wanda added that “usually” Kelly fired warning shots — she had heard at least one gunshot that day — when people came onto the property.

Informing Wanda that someone had been found dead with a gunshot wound on their property, detectives later recorded her alleged response per the court documents: “Well, if you knew the things that been goin’ on out there, you would have — you wouldn't be waitin’ around.”

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The murder trial – which was originally slated for September 2023 – had been delayed when prosecutors appealed Judge Thomas Fink’s decisions barring Kelly’s text messages from entering into evidence and prohibiting his wife from taking the stand due to marital privilege, per 13 News.

Vice Chief Judge Christopher P. Staring ruled in the November appeals decision, which was reviewed by PEOPLE, that because Wanda had voluntarily made statements to authorities early in the investigation, she had forfeited her marital privilege.

Now, Kelly’s three-week long March trial will likely include testimony from Wanda, who prosecutors intend to call to testify against her husband.

The appeals court also determined that the “judge erred by precluding text messages sent and received by the defendant.”

At the hearing earlier this week, Judge Fink set Kelly’s trial to start March 21, the AP and Tucson’s 13 News reports. Eight jurors will decide the case.

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