NOGALES, Ariz.—Prosecutors in the second-degree murder trial of Arizona ranch owner George Alan Kelly called as their first witness an illegal immigrant who has been deported from the United States nearly a dozen times, once for illegally smuggling drugs into the country.
Honduran national Daniel Alberto Ramirez, 43, testified in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on March 27 that he saw the victim, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, shot and killed by what he believes was an AK-47 rifle on Mr. Kelly’s property.
Mr. Ramirez also testified that he had no idea there was a legal immigration process before paying criminal Mexican guides, known as “coyotes,” $25,000 for 10 illegal entries, two of which failed.
In 2014, immigration officials charged him with illegally transporting marijuana into the country before deporting him later that year after his conviction.
Mr. Ramirez told a 12-member jury that on the afternoon of the shooting, Jan. 30, 2023, he'd been traveling with a group of nine illegal immigrants, including the victim, when they encountered a passing Border Patrol vehicle after crossing the border.
The group scattered and headed back toward the U.S.–Mexico border wall located to the south. However, Mr. Ramirez said he and the victim remained together, dumping bottles of water from their backpacks to lighten their load, and continued walking.
Mr. Ramirez testified that both he and Mr. Cuen-Buitimea, a Mexican national, had entered the country illegally to look for jobs as roofers and construction workers in the Phoenix area and pursue “the American Dream.”
Eventually, they found their way onto a dirt road along a wire fence line when, at about 2:30 p.m., they encountered a hail of gunfire from the direction of Mr. Kelly’s house.
One of the bullets allegedly struck Mr. Cuen-Buitimea, 48, in the lower back and exited his chest.
Through Spanish-language interpreters, Mr. Ramirez testified that he watched Mr. Cuen-Buitimea grab his chest and cry out, “I’m hit,” before collapsing face up in the dirt. He died shortly after.
Mr. Ramirez estimated that he heard about 10 shots fired from an AK-47 rifle, the same rifle shots he'd become familiar with in Honduras during Christmas celebrations and at the U.S.–Mexico border.
Mr. Ramirez testified that he jumped over the victim’s body in a state of panic and hid in a dry riverbed for about 15 minutes.
He said that when he felt it was safe, he began walking back to the border wall across the desert.
At one point, he turned around and allegedly saw someone with gray hair standing over the victim’s body from a distance of about two soccer fields (200 to 260 yards).
Mr. Ramirez couldn’t identify Mr. Kelly as the shooter. A search of Mr. Kelly’s property using metal detectors and a police canine failed to locate a bullet that matched the weapon Mr. Kelly allegedly used to shoot and kill Mr. Cuen-Buitimea.
The victim was found fatally shot 115 yards from Mr. Kelly’s house.
After interviews with investigators, county law enforcement charged Mr. Kelly with second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
If convicted of second-degree murder, he faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 22 years in prison.
Mr. Kelly rejected a plea deal in January, opting instead to go to trial on both charges.
During cross-examination by Mr. Kelly’s defense attorney, Brenna Larkin, Mr. Ramirez testified that he met the victim working as a roofer in the Sonora, Mexico, and Nogales areas.
He testified that he had no idea Mr. Cuen-Buitimea would be at the border wall on Jan. 30, 2023, awaiting a coyote to usher illegal immigrants across the border into the United States.
The alleged coyote’s name was “El Cholo,” he said.
He said that beyond that, he knew nothing of El Cholo or his background. He allegedly paid the man in $20 bills, which El Cholo put in his pants pocket.
Mr. Ramirez testified that his family in Honduras helped raise the money to pay the coyote to cross the border despite their poverty.
The witness then testified that he thought the only way to gain entry into the United States was illegally.
In previous testimony, Mr. Ramirez allegedly told authorities that he had never carried drugs across the border.
“You lied to investigators in this case,” Ms. Larkin said during questioning.
“Well, it wasn’t a lie,” Mr. Ramirez responded. “When [the detective] asked me if I carried drugs at the time of the shooting, I said no.”
“But that’s not what the detective asked you. Correct?” Ms. Larkin said.
“No, but that’s what I figured he was asking,” the witness said.
Mr. Ramirez allegedly gave U.S. investigators a false name, which was an error in paperwork by Mexican officials, he said.
He also testified that a man named Ramon was part of the group he was with on the day of the shooting. He later denied making that statement in court.
“Do you have problems with your memory?” Ms. Larkin asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Ramirez replied. He qualified that statement by saying he was nervous about giving testimony.
Mr. Kelly’s red-colored horse became a point of focus during Mr. Ramirez’s testimony. It was the horse bucking and jumping in front of the witness that he believed saved his life.
“I just thank God for the horse, for saving me,” Mr. Ramirez testified. “If it hadn’t been for that horse, I wouldn’t be here telling the story.”
He said that at one point, he believed that the horse had been shot and killed during the gunfire.
Mr. Ramirez also testified that it was the victim’s family that first contacted him after he returned to Mexico.
U.S. investigators would interview him at a hotel in Mexico days later after a man named Juan Carlos Ramirez located him recuperating by “word of mouth.”
“They started looking for me because people started talking that I was [with the victim] and had been shot at,” Mr. Ramirez testified.
“My nerves are getting the best of me. I am remembering what happened,” Mr. Ramirez said during further cross-examination. “I feel like vomiting.”
The court took a brief recess so that Mr. Ramirez could compose himself and finish his testimony.
The trial resumed on March 28 and concludes on April 19.
The defense presented as evidence a previous photo showing Mr. Cuen-Buitimea wearing tan pants and a jacket, a hooded sweatshirt, a fanny pack, binoculars, sunglasses, and a two-way handheld radio.
On the day authorities found his body lying face down in the dirt, he wore similar clothing and had on his person a camouflage backpack, a radio in his waistband, and a cellphone. These items reportedly are often used by drug and human smugglers to communicate and avoid detection.
Mr. Ramirez testified that neither he nor the victim nor anyone in their group was smuggling drugs for cartels.
Mr. Kelly told investigators he fired warning shots into the air from an AK-47 and wasn’t shooting at anyone. Authorities recovered nine shell casings from his patio and eight more shell casings used in AK-47s.
Investigators didn’t locate a body on Mr. Kelly’s property, but the court was told he later found the deceased Mr. Cuen-Buitimea lying face down.
He told authorities that he fired the shots after he saw a group of armed men from his kitchen window while preparing lunch. He said the men were all carrying camouflage backpacks while crossing his property near Kino Springs, about 1.5 miles north of the border.
