TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — An arraignment was held Monday for George Alan Kelly. He's a rancher just outside the border in Nogales who’s accused of shooting and killing a Mexican citizen found dead on his property.
Judge Thomas Fink sent this case to trial, setting the date to September 6th of this year.
Kelly was released from jail on Feb. 23 on a million-dollar bond. During today’s arraignment, his attorney Brenna Larkin requested for the case to not move to trial.
“We’d be requesting a 60-day continuance so that we can set this for a status hearing,” she said.
She said she’d like for the defense to have more time to continue investigations.
Larkin stated the state executed an additional search warrant for Kelly's Kino Springs property.
“The state is continuing to collect evidence and pursue an investigation and we obviously need disclosure of the results of that search warrant and all of that stuff so for those reasons we ask that this case not be sent to trial at this time,” said Larkin.
That request was denied.
Recently, the charges were dropped from first-degree murder to second-degree murder.
The big difference between first and second-degree murder is premeditation, according to the Shouse Arizona Law Group. They state second-degree murder can carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
Judge Thomas Fink says this case is going to trial and that’s unlikely to change.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
