Allegations of cartel-related corruption have emerged in Arizona against Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway and County Attorney George Silva following a controversial high-profile murder case involving a border rancher who was charged in the shooting death of an illegal alien.
Dr. Ron Martinelli, a retired law enforcement expert who provided forensic assistance in George Alan Kelly's trial, highlighted significant issues with the prosecution in the case.
“I think the entire case was politically generated,” Martinelli told Federal Newswire. "We believe the moving forces behind this ridiculous prosecution were a jury in Sheriff Hathaway, who's running for office, and the county prosecutor, who's running for office."
Martinelli said his team found no forensic links connecting Kelly to the shooting and the prosecution presented none.
“I have never seen a prosecution with zero forensic evidence and still manage to proceed with charges. The entire case was flawed and politically motivated,” Martinelli said.
Kelly, who lives with his wife on a 170-acre cattle ranch in Kino Springs, Arizona near the Mexico-U.S. border, said he was making a sandwich when he saw a group of illegal immigrants trespassing on his property. Kelly said he believed the group was linked to cartel activity.
Kelly admitted to firing several warning shots over their heads, causing the group to scatter. He called the police after the incident to report it and then later after discovering the body of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea.
In March, 75-year-old Kelly stood trial for second degree murder for the 2023 killing.
After a jury's 7-1 deadlock in April, which led to a mistrial, Judge Thomas Fink dismissed the case, citing the prosecution’s lack of evidence that Kelly shot and killed Cuen-Buitimea, calling any further pursuit of Kelly “harassment.” Fink noted prosecutors struggled with evidentiary issues, including the lack of a recovered bullet and the inability to prove Kelly’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Martinelli suggested that the arrest and prosecution of Kelly was meant to cover up cartel activity in the area and send a message to other ranchers.
“The prosecutors, the sheriff, and also – this is my speculation – the Sinaloa drug and human trafficking cartel. I think they're all trying to send a message to ranchers on the border, to not defend themselves and to not call law enforcement,” he said.
Martinelli leaned into the criticism of Hathaway’s role in the case mentioning the creation of a promotional video by the sheriff in which he alludes to the Kelly case.
“(Hathaway) did a video, which was a self promotion video because he's running for sheriff, and basically denies that there's any problems at the border and accused Customs and Border Patrol of committing atrocities and shooting and murdering people, for which they've never been held accountable,” Martinelli said.
“He called the local law enforcement, in the counties that surrounded him and Customs and Border Patrol, referred to them as Gestapo.”
Martinelli said the video was used in the trial.
“Without naming Mr. Kelly, he basically goes into his neighborhood. He's actually Mr. Kelly's neighbor, and he's saying, ‘we got this rancher here that just woke up one day and decided that he was going to kill him some Mexicans.’ And so when we put him on the stand, we basically eviscerated him,” Marinelli said.
Martinelli suggested that the average citizen put themselves in Kelly’s situation.
“Put yourself in his position for a minute,” Martinelli said. “Okay, let's say that you live in a house and in the middle of the daytime you see armed people on your property. Let's say it's in your backyard...a guy points a rifle at you. You fire warning shots because you don't want to get into a war with drug smugglers right from the cartel because they'll slaughter you any time they want. And you fire some warning shots to scare them off.
“They run away. You call the police, the police come out, they search all your property, they don't find anything and then three hours later, you go back out in your backyard and you find a dead body and you call the police and you say, ‘hey, there's a dead body in my backyard’ and they come out, and within 30 minutes they arrest you.”
Martinelli, a retired San Jose police officer who has worked in forensic investigations for over 35 years, spoke out vehemently against the handling of Kelly's case.
“The prosecution's case was rife with problems, including a severe lack of forensic evidence,” Martinelli said. “The jury's 7-1 vote for acquittal reflected the shortcomings in the State’s argument. The sole holdout could not provide a coherent reason for their stance, suggesting possible jury nullification.”
Martinelli said both the sheriff and prosecutor were determined to pin the murder on Kelly.
“I'm incensed when I see an obvious injustice,” Martinelli said. “With all due respect to Mr. Buitimea, the false narrative that was presented about Mr. Buitimea was that he was a 'a poor Mexican migrant' looking for the American dream who was murdered by a white rancher.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Buitimea was a known drug and human trafficker. Every witness that was Hispanic, every single witness had some sort of tie to the Sinaloa cartel.”
Martinelli noted the only alleged eyewitness to the shooting, Daniel Ramirez Ruiz (DRR), admitted to breaking the law several times.
“DRR admitted that he had been deported ten different times,” Martinelli said. “He had been convicted for drug smuggling by the feds. The guy that led the sheriff's office to DRR was a twice convicted felon who strangled his girlfriend on one occasion and did state prison time, and was a convicted weapons trafficker who did federal time. There wasn't there wasn't an honest witness outside of law enforcement. There wasn't an honest witness in this group and yet the prosecution continued to pursue these people.”
In July, Fink ruled to dismiss the case against Kelly with prejudice, effectively closing it permanently.
“The more logical … reason for the jurors’ 7-1 vote for acquittal is that the State simply failed to persuade the jurors of the Defendant’s guilt,” Fink wrote in an order. “The evidence simply was not there.”
Martinelli is a sought-after crime analyst and technical advisor who teaches university level courses on forensics. He has contributed to high-profile death cases as well as authoring numerous texts and manuals for the forensic and legal communities.
Along with his team, Martinelli provided services – worth about $250,000 – pro bono. “That's the first pro bono case I've handled and I've been doing this for 35 years as an expert witness in federal and state court,” he said. “We have a 94% success rate. I've never worked nor had any of our experts worked pro bono before. But when we saw what was happening to Mr. and Mrs. Kelly, we reached out to the defense team and suggested that they consider using us.”
He also suggested broader implications, alleging that the case might be part of a larger scheme by drug cartels to intimidate border ranchers.
“The cartels have significant influence and can compromise officials through bribery or threats. Santa Cruz County is among the poorest in Arizona and a hotspot for cartel activity,” Martinelli said.
He said the thought that cartel money has crossed the line into politics is a not an “if” but a “where” situation.
“Do you think that the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department is the first law enforcement agency in the history of the United States to be compromised by a drug cartel or organized crime?” Martinelli said.
He said the thought was a scary one.
“The cartels are the cartels. I'm Italian, I know a lot about the Mafia, they make the mafia look like a bunch of school kids,” Martinelli said.
Kelly’s case drew significant attention amid a heated national debate on border security and is closely watched by the Mexican consulate and political figures.
The month-long trial reflected broader political tensions over immigration and self-defense issues.
Following the mistrial, Kelly and his wife reported they are attempting to rebuild their lives after having faced significant financial and emotional hardships.
Kelly continues to maintain his innocence in the shooting death of Cuen-Buitimea, claiming he did not fire directly at anyone and that someone else is responsible for the murder.
“They accused me of shooting him. I said, ‘No, I didn’t shoot him.’ And they said, ‘Well, we think you did, and we’re arresting you for first-degree murder,’” Kelly told Fox News Nation.
MSNBC characterized Kelly as a cause celeb for conservatives who, according to the network, celebrated the mistrial.
