In a case of holding steadfast to his beliefs, 73-year-old Arizona cattle rancher George Alan Kelly gained victory April 22 in the Arizona Supreme Court as his trial was declared a mistrial. Although Kelly is now a free man, is it still a victory? There are so many circumstances surrounding this event that no one really wins in a case like this.
Details surrounding the actual event are still in question, but what we do know is that as jurors began deliberating on April 18, seven of the eight jurors were confident with a not-guilty verdict with one juror holding out to the point that Judge Thomas Fink walked out after declaring a mistrial.
In January of 2023, Kelly and his wife were on the back patio of their home when they encountered two armed men with vests and gear passing by their house about 100 feet away. Kelly, in defense of his property, claims he fired warning shots in the air and then dialed his border patrol liaison. At that time, nothing further was reported until later that day when they were called again and this time the body of 48-year-old Mexican national Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea was discovered. Details from here get murky and we probably won’t ever know what actually happened.
In the forensics laboratory, the bullet that killed Buitimea was never recovered, preventing investigators from reaching a full conclusion as to which gun was the murder weapon. This piece of information stops this trial as conspiracies swirled from every angle, ranging from allegations against the arresting sheriff, who was captured on video claiming Kelly “wanted to hunt some Mexicans,” to other theories suggesting that Buitimea was actually killed by the cartel, with Kelly being falsely accused.
Prosecutors offered Kelly a plea deal that would have lessened charges, but Kelly stood his ground, refused the deal and the results are that he chose the right path for his future.
Regardless of what the true story is, the outcome is that no one really wins in this situation. The situation on the southern border has exploded in recent years, but this is nothing new and is trending entirely the wrong way. From 2021 through 2023, there was a 40% increase in Southwest border patrol encounters by federal agents. Since January 2020, there have been 6.2 million encounters with an additional 1.7 million known “gotaways.” Buitimea is documented to have been deported from the U.S. prior to his death.
There is simply a major crisis at the southern border and ranchers are usually the first to see migrants. The lure of the American life, cartel profits and trafficking, and soft laws of the U.S. have created a wave of migrants. Fellow ranchers are being overran.
WLJ doesn’t condone any violence against another human being, but if you place yourself in the shoes of Kelly, what a hard spot to be in.
Just over 100 miles away, rancher Robert Krentz was killed in 2010 by an illegal immigrant crossing his cattle ranch. The cartel fears no authority, landowner or law because the reward is simply too great. Krentz’s memory is still engrained in ranchers across America.
When waves of people are flowing from South America, guided through Mexico, and grow in numbers as they aim for the U.S., it is a breakdown of multiple systems. A system that should protect its own has forgotten who it needs to represent. For years, ranchers have checked cattle, fences, watering holes and their land while fully armed, not knowing what they’ll encounter. Making sure their livestock are still where they need to can be a life-or-death event.
The double edge we see in this situation is that migration is essential for agriculture. We simply need migrant workers in nearly every stage of production, be it food crops or meat production. Migrant workers are an essential piece to the puzzle. Not every migrant is being trafficked, moving drugs, belongs to a cartel, etc. But there are enough situations that make every encounter a dangerous situation.
There won’t be a victory in this situation because the true killers aren’t known. There isn’t a large enough deterrent to stop border crossings. There isn’t a collaborative effort of several governments working together to stop these things from happening. For now, ranchers and landowners on the border are left to fend for themselves and when something goes wrong, they have to prove their innocence to the very system that failed them to begin with. If they defend themselves, they are put to trial and if they don’t defend, they are murdered. What are they to do? — LOGAN IPSEN
