George Alan Kelly’s Mistrial Is No License to Kill Migrants
Prior to jury deliberations in the trial of Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly, the man charged with killing an illegal Mexican migrant named Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, I wrote about the case in an article entitled, “Don’t Kill Migrant ‘Invaders.’” In my article, I pointed out the free legal advice that I have given over the years to people who describe illegal immigrants as “invaders.” My advice has always been: Don’t kill them because you will be charged with murder or some lesser criminal offense, such as manslaughter. Moreover, the judge will not permit you to defend against the charge by a claim that you were simply acting under international law by defending America from an invasion.
As it turned out, the 8-person jury in the Kelly case was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case, which is required to convict a person in a criminal case. According to Kelly’s defense attorney, the vote was 7-1 for acquittal. Since the vote was not unanimous, the judge declared a mistrial.
At that point, the state had a decision to make: Try Kelly again or dismiss the case. The state opted to dismiss the case. Why would it do that? Because the prosecutors undoubtedly recognized that it would be difficult to secure a unanimous verdict in favor of guilt in another trial. Thus, they obviously concluded, another trial would be a waste of time and money.
Still left to be decided is whether the judge will dismiss the case “with prejudice” or “without prejudice.” If he dismisses it “with prejudice,” the state is forever precluded from prosecuting Kelly again on this same charge. If he dismisses it “without prejudice,” the state can bring the charges again.
It might be tempting for the “invasion” crowd to conclude that the dismissal of charges against Kelly means that people are free to kill illegal immigrants as “invaders.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Notwithstanding the mistrial and the dismissal of the case, my free legal advice still stands: Don’t kill migrant “invaders.”
It’s important to keep certain aspects of the Kelly case in mind.
First, Kelly was denying that he shot Cuen-Buitimea. He claimed
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