Arizona rancher pleads not guilty to second-degree murder of alleged illegal immigrant on his property

Appearing in court on Monday, Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly pled not guilty to downgraded charges in connection to the shooting of a Mexican man on his property in January.

73-year-old Kelly was arraigned on Monday on a second-degree murder charge for the January 30 shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea, downgraded from the first-degree murder charge that prosecutors were seeking after public criticism, according to the Daily Mail.

The judge set a September 6 date for Kelly’s trial, despite Kelly’s team wanting more time to fight the charges.

In February, Kelly was released from custody after posting his $1 million bond, with funds being raised through the Christian fundraising platform GiveSendGo.

On January 30, Kelly called Border Patrol, claiming he was being shot at by a group of Mexican men running through his property, which lies just 1.5 miles from the southern border. He said that he fired warning shots at the group above their heads, taking caution not to hit them.

Authorities arrived and searched the property, but found nothing.

Hours later, while out retrieving his horse, Kelly found the body of Cuen-Butimea and called the police again. Kelly was arrested and held on $1 million bond.

Brenna Larkin, Kelly's public defender, said in a court filing the leader of the group of men "pointed an AK-47 right at him" and that Kelly "reasonably feared for his safety, his wife's safety, and his animals' safety."

Larkin said, "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. Once the group had fled, Mr. Kelly walked over to his barn to see if it was safe and secure," Larkin added.

Prosecutors claimed that Kelly allegedly "hunted" the group on his property, with two witnesses from the group that they say posed "no threat" running back to the border after Kelly started shooting.

At a previous hearing, Larkin questioned the detective that interrogated Kelly after his arrest, asking whether it was possible that a rival cartel gang could have shot Cuen-Butimea, but that the cops were trying to get Kelly to admit to the shooting.

"Isn't the AK47 is most common rifle carried by drug smugglers?" Larkin asked. 

"Yes," the detective responded, who had testified that he found an AK-47 shell casing on Kelly’s porch.

Rodney Scott, a former Border Patrol chief, told NewsNation that the area is a hotspot for violence.

"Everything that I’ve seen, in my professional experience, would tell me that that guy was either a scout, or an actual guide for a group with a radio much more likely. He was probably scouting out in advance, or the frontman, if you will," Scott said. "But that type of activity and behavior doesn’t take place out there. Unless it’s part of the cartel."