Trial Begins for US Rancher Accused of Killing Migrant

The trial of a rancher accused of killing a Mexican migrant on his property in Arizona began Friday, as tensions mount in the United States over an inflow of migrants across the southern border.

George Alan Kelly, 75, is charged with second-degree murder for the death of Mexican Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, on his property in the border town of Nogales in January 2023.

During opening arguments Friday in a southern Arizona courtroom, the rancher's defense attorneys claimed that Kelly was eating lunch that day when he saw a group of men walking on his land with backpacks and rifles. After hearing a gunshot he reached for his AK-47 to fire into the air and scare them.

"He knew that he and his wife were in danger," said attorney Brenna Larkin.

"He raises his rifle at an angle high up so that he knows he's not going to hit anybody. And he fires. He fires until the threat is gone," Larkin said, AFP reported.

But prosecutors said the migrants were unarmed and portrayed the incident as the product of a bias in Kelly's mind toward migrants commonly held in regions close to the border with Mexico.