Murder trial delayed for Arizona rancher accused of killing Mexican citizen

NOGALES — The Arizona Court of Appeals granted a stay on Tuesday in the murder trial of the Nogales-area rancher accused of shooting and killing a Mexican citizen in January.

Judge Thomas Fink vacated the original Sept. 6 trial start date for George Alan Kelly after hearing about the decision to stay the case. The trial was postponed to Sept. 26.

Kelly, 75, is accused of shooting Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, 48, as he ran for his life on Kelly’s nearly 170-acre Kino Springs property. Kelly is facing one count each of second-degree murder and aggravated assault.

“The court obviously will respect the stay,” Fink said. “I’m sure there’s absolutely no possibility that the matter will be resolved before next Wednesday when jury selection is set to begin.”

The appeals hearing was only 30 minutes before Tuesday's scheduled hearing in the case at Santa Cruz County Superior Court in Nogales. The clerk of the court called the appeals court to confirm the decision shortly before Tuesday’s hearing began. 

“We just learned just before we came to court,” said Kimberly Hunley, Santa Cruz County chief deputy attorney.

Prosecutors had requested a continuance in the trial because of the late disclosure of a handful of experts by the defense. Prosecutors alleged that the late disclosure was a bad faith “last-second sandbagging.” 

Hunley previously argued that the state needed more time to vet, interview and brief expert witnesses brought forward by the defense. The defense subsequently said that they would not be calling the experts to testify in trial and only retain them in a consulting capacity.

During a previous hearing, Fink denied the state’s motion to continue the trial and told prosecutors that they could ask the Court of Appeals for a stay in the case, which they eventually did. 

Fink denied Hunley's request on Tuesday to set a hearing to argue the handful of remaining pretrial motions before the delayed trial begins.

Tuesday’s now-vacated hearing was originally set to review the results of juror questionnaires and to hear arguments in remaining motions. The 100 jurors summoned for the jury selection process will be excused. 

Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda.