George Alan Kelly, 75, faces a first-degree murder charge for the Jan. 30 death of Gabriel Cuen-Butimea.
At Santa Cruz County however, Kelly’s defense attorney Brenna Larkin said her client was being targeted by smugglers who were intimidating witnesses and skewing the investigation.
Larkin alleged the traffickers are interested in “securing their route” through Kelly’s property, and using his case as a message to others not to challenge them.Previous reports stated that Kelly told investigators that he fired warning shots into the air after seeing men with AK-47s on his property. He then claimed to have found Cuen-Butimea’s body hours later, when he was checking on his horse.
Larkin cited the “Rust” shooting investigation in neighboring New Mexico — which has led to manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin — as an example of the kind of thorough investigation Kelly had been denied before his arrest.“This case was charged first, and investigated later,” she admonished. “There very much appears to be a double standard for these witness statements. There appears to be a confirmation bias in this investigation,” she said, calling out the “powder keg” of “highly politicized” interest in the case.
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