BOSTON (AP) — Jack Edwards is retiring after 19 years as the Boston Bruins' play-by-play announcer, the team announced Tuesday.
Edwards has described the position broadcasting for the Bruins on NESN as his “dream job,” which he started in 2005 after spending more than a decade at ESPN. He will continue calling Bruins games through the end of the playoffs.
The 67-year-old Edwards has struggled recently with slowed speech, for which he has received therapy. He spoke about the issue to The Boston Globe in February.
Edwards was recognized before the Bruins’ regular-season finale against the Ottawa Senators and presented with a golden stick in honor of his nearly two decades with the team. Edwards put his hand over his heart in thanks and lifted the stick up as fans cheered during the pregame ceremony.
A New Hampshire native and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Edwards said he grew up a Bruins fan and was grateful to finish out his 45-year broadcasting career covering the club.
“I retire from broadcasting not with a heavy heart, but gratefulness for a 19-year-long joyride,” Edwards said in a release. “I owe my career, my own pursuit of happiness, to the love and support of my family. I thank every member of the Bruins and NESN for your loyalty, helping me to achieve and live out a lifetime goal, high above the ice.”
Edwards worked for television stations in Rhode Island and Boston before joining ESPN in 1991.
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Boston Bruins television play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards, center, holds up a golden stick in honor of his announced retirement, before the Bruins' NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors said Monday they will not retry an Arizona rancher whose trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury.
The jurors in the trial of George Alan Kelly were unable to reach a unanimous decision on a verdict after more than two days of deliberation. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial on April 22.
After the mistrial, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office had the option to retry Kelly — or to drop the case.
“Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding this case, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has decided not to seek a retrial,” Deputy County Attorney Kimberly Hunley told Fink Monday.
Fink agreed to dismiss the case. He said a hearing would be scheduled later to determine if it would be dismissed with prejudice, which would mean it couldn't be brought back to court.
.Kelly's defense attorney Brenna Larkin did not immediately return a request for comment sent by email after Fink ruled.
The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month in Nogales, which is on the border with Mexico. The rancher had been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30, 2023, killing of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea outside Nogales, Arizona.
Cuen-Buitimea had lived just south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. He was in a group of men that Kelly encountered that day on his cattle ranch. His two adult daughters, along with Mexican consular officials, met with prosecutors last week to learn about the implications of a mistrial.
The Mexican Consulate in Nogales, Arizona, said it would have a statement later in the day.
Prosecutors had said Kelly recklessly fired nine shots from an AK-47 rifle toward a group of men on his cattle ranch, including Cuen-Buitimea, about 100 yards (90 meters) away. Kelly has said he fired warning shots in the air, but argued he didn’t shoot directly at anyone.
The trial coincided with a presidential election year that has drawn widespread interest in border security. During it, court officials took jurors to Kelly’s ranch as well as a section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Earlier, Kelly had rejected an agreement with prosecutors that would have reduced the charge to one count of negligent homicide if he pleaded guilty.
Kelly was also accused of aggravated assault of another person in the group of about eight people.
FILE - George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Ariz., Feb. 22, 2023. Prosecutors headed back to court Monday, April 29, 2024, to announce whether they will retry Kelly, an Arizona rancher, after a jury deadlocked in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property near the southern U.S. border. Jurors in the case against Kelly did not reach a unanimous decision on a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial on April 22. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
