before prosecutors decide Monday afternoon whether they will pursue a second case against Arizona Rancher George Alan Kelly, a criminologist who consulted for the defense, told Fox News Digital that the state has already spent more than $1 million pursuing this “political prosecution,” which is part of the state’s efforts in the region along the U.S. The funds are derived from taxpayer dollars in the poorest counties. Mexico border.
Dr. Ron Martinelli, a criminologist who worked pro bono for Kelly’s defense team, accused Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva and Sheriff David Hathaway of “extreme confirmation bias” in the handling of the case, which centered on the January 30, 2023 death of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimia, a Mexican national whom Kelly called the Border Patrol for help rounding cattle on his 170 acres. Ranch outside Nogales, Arizona.
“The artists of this county and the county prosecutors and the sheriffs of this county and the investigators of this case have emerged to me as the most morally and ethically bankrupt people I have ever encountered in my 50-year career, ” Martinelli told Fox News Digital last week. “The way he looked at this case and the way he handled this case was unique.”
Fox News Digital has contacted Silva and Hathaway for comment.
“This was a political prosecution,” Martinelli said. “They had no forensic evidence. They had a ton of exculpatory information and evidence supporting Mr. Kelly’s innocence. Yet they proceeded with their false narratives to convict this man. I would suggest “It’s my opinion that they used the law against him. I mean, they didn’t even have a motive that they could establish in this case.”
Martinelli said Silva, Hathaway and Michael Jett, a contracted prosecutor, were all absent from court on April 22, when Arizona Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial.
Jette had given closing arguments a few days earlier. Silva chose Santa Cruz County Deputy Attorney Kimberly Hunley to lead the state’s case during the months-long trial.
“Mr. Silva, who is running for office, and the sheriff, Mr. Hathaway, also running for office. Who were those two guys?” Martinelli said. “Who didn’t show up on the most important day of the trial, the last day? The two people we believe are the driving forces (behind Kelly’s prosecution). These people who were leading the case came out on the last day. Why are you absent from the test?”
George Allen Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing at Nogales Justice Court on February 22, 2023 in Nogales, Arizona. (Mark Henley/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
“If the county prosecutor, for God knows whatever reason, wants to bring this case back to trial, I will promise you… I will personally throw every single resource of Martinelli & Associates Justice and Forensic Consultants into this case.” Will give. We put a stop to it. I won’t back down anymore,” Martinelli said. “They can’t get it right. They can’t exonerate their witnesses. They made serious errors in judgment.”
He said, “We believe this trial cost the citizens of Santa Cruz County over $1 million and thousands of man-hours in this case, and they can’t fix it.” “Santa Cruz County is the poorest county in Arizona. The public – does the public want to pay to go through this again? And I guarantee you, this will end, possibly with a full acquittal next time.”
The jury remained deadlocked and so were unable to reach a unanimous decision to convict Kelly of second-degree murder or any of the lesser counts of manslaughter, negligent homicide or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after more than 15 hours of deliberations. . Fink scheduled a status hearing for 1:30 p.m. Monday, when the state is expected to reveal whether they want to reset the case for another hearing.
The defense said seven jurors wanted to acquit Kelly, but one “lone holdout” wanted to convict the elderly cattleman despite overwhelming evidence and testimony.
Martinelli pointed to prosecutors’ “false narrative” during the trial that Kuenn-Buitimia was an “unarmed immigrant chasing the American dream.” The defense claimed that prosecutors failed to prove forensically, ballistics or otherwise that Kuenn-Buitimia was shot by Kelly’s gun, saying that the rancher had fired only a warning shot into the air from his patio earlier that day. Shots were fired. The fatal bullet was never recovered from the scene.
Kelly’s wife, Wanda Kelly, testified about dialing her Border Patrol Ranch contact when she saw the two men armed men wearing camouflage And he was carrying a rifle and a backpack about 100 feet from his house. Law enforcement responded to the property, and several hours passed before Kelly again called the Border Patrol to report finding the body about 115 yards from the ranching couple’s residence.
George Alan Kelly hears closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on April 18, 2024 in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
Martinelli also criticized Hathaway’s testimony that she crossed the border into Mexico a few weeks after the shooting at Kelly’s farm. Daniel Ramirez Interview, a Honduran man whom prosecutors claim was the only direct witness to Cuen-Buitimia’s death. Defense attorneys said, based on Ramirez’s own testimony, he was not there.
Ramirez testified that he had previously sold narcotics across the border, although not on the day of the shootings, and that he had been deported several times.
Hathaway, who had recorded only six minutes of the 40-minute interview with Ramirez, was pressed about a man in Mexico named Juan Carlos Rodriguez who had arranged the meeting. According to Martinelli, prosecutors presented no evidence contrary to the defense theory that a Rip Crew, a gang of bandits sometimes affiliated with cartels, could have shot Kuen-Buitimia and robbed him.
Martinelli told Fox News Digital that the county attorney’s office was forced to tell the defense team that Rodriguez was a twice-convicted felon — the first for aggravated assault and domestic violence after strangling his girlfriend. And then he spent two years in jail. “Transportation of Arms into the United States.”
“There was definitely cartel influence in this entire case that was consistently disrupted by county prosecutors,” Martinelli told Fox News Digital. “There’s a war going on across the U.S. border. It’s a different type of dynamic, where people are really being affected individually. These cattlemen, across this border, encroachment with, you know, armed drug cartels. And human trafficking.”
He added, “Just imagine being on an isolated farm in your 70s. You and your wife. And you’re frequently seeing armed intrusions on your farm.” “This is a war. We try to fight this war in a moral, ethical and legal way. But we cannot be hindered by a dysfunctional criminal justice and law enforcement system. We cannot allow this to happen.” States America. We want to be a free country.”
Prosecutor Michael Jett addresses jurors during closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on April 18, 2024. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP, Pool)
Martinelli also threatened to bring a complaint against Hathaway, who was pressured by the defense after being shown in a YouTube video published about a month earlier by real estate agent Sidney Wilburn, who goes by Big Super Online, in which The Sheriff gives a tour of his home and the border area where his family has lived since the 1800s.
In the video, Hathaway referenced the Kelly case and claimed that the cattleman “wanted to hunt down some Mexicans for me.” The sheriff compared the Border Patrol and sheriffs of surrounding counties to the “Gestapo”, and said the Border Patrol “committed incredible atrocities for which they have never been prosecuted.”
“And at the same time he criticizes other law enforcement agencies for asking for money and, quote, ‘sensationalizing crimes bordering on bordering’, he is so hypocritical because he applied for Santa Cruz County to ban drugs and human And have received grant money trafficking in their own county,” Martinelli said. “Whether or not the county prosecutor decides to prosecute Mr. Kelly further in this case, I personally will do so, and I will not be alone – there will be multiple law enforcement sources who are going to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. To write a complaint letter.”
He also vowed to complain to the Justice Department, the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury and the Arizona Board of Corrections for alleged violations of Kelly’s civil rights, while offering him $1 million in cash in connection with the first case, which was later downgraded last year. Was held on bond for weeks. Charge of degree premeditated murder.
gofundme destroyed kelly’s defense fund The first platform from GiveSendGo, a Christian crowd-sourcing option, raised money for an elderly vet.
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“All of these agencies need to audit both the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department, their CID and their corrections division,” Martinelli said. “People in Santa Cruz County are scared. Even though Sheriff David Hathaway and prosecutors try and prevent people from knowing there were serious problems in Santa Cruz County over the border. There is complete cartel influence in Santa Cruz County. People are saying this. You know, they’re scared of it and now they’re really worried about the people like the sheriff and the county prosecutor, who voted to protect them, and they’re not protecting them.”
Martinelli said Kelly has used about $2 million in personal funding and funding from his legal defense fund on GiveSendGo, and asked for additional donations and “prayers” for the couple.
