NOGALES — A key witness in a state lawsuit against a Nogales-area rancher accused of murdering a Mexican national was jailed in 2015 for smuggling cannabis across the Arizona-Mexico border.
According to court documents, the witness brought a bundle of nearly 50 pounds of cannabis in a backpack from Mexico to the United States near Sonoita, Arizona. The man accepted a plea bargain for misdemeanor marijuana possession and served nearly seven months in federal prison, according to court documents.
The man claims to have witnessed the Jan. 30 shooting of Gabriel-Queen Buitimere and identified the shooter as George Alan Kelly. The man is the only publicly known witness to Ms. Bittimer’s death and is a central figure in the state’s lawsuit against Kelly.
“This is not information discovered or disclosed by the state. It was discovered by the defense,” Kelly’s attorney Brenna Larkin said at the hearing.
It is unclear whether prosecutors knew of the witness’s criminal record before the preliminary hearing. No drugs were found on or around Buitimere’s body, according to court documents.
The witness was identified only by his initials, DRR, when he reenacted Ms. Buitimere’s death during dramatic testimony at a preliminary evidence hearing in February. Witnesses claim they were traveling with Bitimere with a group of men who had crossed the Kelly compound when they reportedly started firing.
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Larkin alleges that the state interviewed a witness before the hearing in February, who said he never brought drugs into the United States. At a hearing Wednesday at Santa Cruz County Superior Court in Nogales, Judge Thomas Fink denied Larkin’s motion to give the court judicial notice of DRR’s federal criminal record.
However, Fink said Larkin will only need to enter forensic documentation, including DRR’s criminal record, as evidence during the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 6.
Kelly, 75, faces one count of second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Kelly has been charged with shooting dead 48-year-old Bytimer after her body was found on Kelly’s approximately 170-acre property in Kino Springs.
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Larkin claimed Kelly shot over the head of a gunman walking on his property in self-defense. Santa Cruz County Acting Chief Deputy Attorney Kimberly Hanley said Kelly shot and ultimately killed Buitimere in the back while he was trying to escape for his life.
Larkin said Kelly heard a gunshot while he was having lunch with his wife on January 30. Kelly saw the horse startle away and he noticed a mob armed with AK-47 rifles moving through the trees near his home.
The men were dressed in khakis and camouflage and carried large backpacks.
Kelly stepped out onto the porch with a rifle after calling a U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison officer responsible for assisting ranchers on the border.
According to a 13-page motion filed by Larkin on February 9, the group’s leader then pointed an AK-47 at Kelly. Kelly then fired several warning shots “well over the heads” of the men before the group scattered into the desert. Surrounding his property, the motion read.
Border Patrol agents and a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Deputy arrived at Kelly’s property and searched the group, but found no one. Cristobal Castañeda, a lieutenant with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, was among those who helped return Kelly’s property after the shooting.
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At the hearing, Castañeda said she advised Kelly to stay home and call 911 if something like this happened again. According to the police report, Kelly acknowledged Castañeda’s advice, but insisted he must protect his property and said he would do what he had to do.
“(Mr Kelly) insisted he had to protect his property,” Castañeda said during his testimony. “(Mr Kelly) added that he was aware of his actions and was responsible for his actions.”
During a preliminary hearing in February, DRR reenacted what he allegedly witnessed the shooting of Buitimere in front of the courtroom. The man got up from the chair next to the judge, held his chest with one hand and stretched it with the other.
“I saw Gabriel, he held his chest and said, ‘I’ve been beaten,'” a witness said in a testimony in February. “They were still firing, so I couldn’t reach out and grab his hand.”
Eyewitnesses said that when Mr. Buitimere died, his eyes rotated toward the back of his head, revealing the whites of his eyes.
DRR appeared at the testimony wearing a blue medical face mask, a black sweatshirt, and a blue hoodie pulled over his head to conceal his identity. He pointed to Kelly in court and said he was wearing a shirt similar to the one he wore when he allegedly shot the group.
Kelly appeared in court Wednesday in a denim shirt, jeans, glasses and a cowboy hat. Two more hearings are scheduled for August 9 and August 11 to resolve the remaining complaints filed by the prosecution and defense.
Any news tips or story ideas about the border and its communities? Contact reporters at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or reach out to us on Twitter @joseicastaneda.
