Prosecutors say they will not retry an Arizona rancher accused of murder near the US-Mexico border

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 told the judge that she would file a request for the case to be dismissed with prejudice.

Larkin did not immediately return a request for comment sent by email after the ruling.

When a reporter from the Tucson TV station KGUN asked for Kelly's reaction outside the courthouse, he said he felt “relief.”

“The nightmare's over,” Kelly added, saying that the victim's family “has my sincere sympathy.”

Kelly was trailed by protesters demonstrating on behalf of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who was fatally shot on Jan. 30, 2023.

“Gabriel was a human being,” said one sign carried by protesters.

“Someone walking 100 yards (91.44 meters) away is not a threat,” read another, which called for a retrial.

The 75-year-old Kelly had been on trial for nearly a month in Nogales, a city on the border with Mexico. The rancher had been charged with second-degree murder in the killing 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 release a statement later.

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.

A sign referring to Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, a Mexican man found dead on the ranch of George Alan Kelly, sits outside the Santa Cruz County Courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024. Kelly's trial on a charge of second-degree murder ended last week with a deadlocked jury, and prosecutors said Monday during a hearing that they would not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

George Alan Kelly, center, is followed by reporters as he exits the Santa Cruz County Courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. Kelly's trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury and prosecutors said Monday they will not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

Ana Maria Vasquez Leon, left, and Magdaleno Rosa Avila protest outside the courthouse on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. The trial of rancher George Alan Kelly in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury, and prosecutors said during a hearing Monday they would not retry him. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

George Alan Kelly listens as county prosecutors call to dismiss his criminal case during a hearing Monday, April 29, 2024, in Nogales, Ariz. Kelly's trial in the fatal shooting of a Mexican man on his property ended last week with a deadlocked jury. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP)

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)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing Thursday that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.

The dispute over access to the recordings is at the center of a Republican effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress and more broadly to hinder the Democratic president's reelection effort in the final months of the closely contested campaign.

“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes," White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote in a scathing letter to House Republicans ahead of scheduled votes by two House committees to refer Garland to the Justice Department for the contempt charges over the department’s refusal to hand over the audio.

“Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate,” Siskel added.

Garland separately advised Biden in a letter made public Thursday that the audio falls within the scope of executive privilege, which protects a president’s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

“There have been a series of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department,” Garland told reporters. “This request, this effort to use contempt as a method of obtaining our sensitive law enforcement files is just most recent.”

Garland said in his letter to Biden that lawmakers' efforts "are plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that the production of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future."

The Justice Department also warned Congress that a contempt effort would create “unnecessary and unwarranted conflict," with Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte saying: “It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the president's claim of executive privilege cannot be held in contempt of Congress.

Siskel's letter to lawmakers comes after the uproar from Biden’s aides and allies over special counsel Robert Hur’s comments about Biden’s age and mental acuity, and it highlights concerns in a difficult election year over how potentially embarrassing moments from the lengthy interview could be exacerbated by the release, or selective release, of the audio.

The transcript of the Hur interview showed Biden struggling to recall some dates and occasionally confusing some details — something longtime aides says he’s done for years in both public and private — but otherwise showing deep recall in other areas. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he’s the oldest ever president, and he's seeking another four-year term.

Hur, a former senior official in the Trump administration Justice Department, was appointed as a special counsel in January 2023 following the discovery of classified documents in multiple locations tied to Biden.

Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by “mistake.”

But investigators did find evidence of willful retention and disclosure related a subset of records found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, an office and a basement den.

The files pertain to a troop surge in Afghanistan during the Obama administration that Biden had vigorously opposed. Biden kept records that documented his position, including a classified letter to Obama during the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday. Some of that information was shared with a ghostwriter with whom he published memoirs in 2007 and 2017.

FILE - Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during the 36th Annual Candlelight Vigil to honor the law enforcement officers who lost their lives in 2023, in Washington, on May 13, 2024. House Republicans are set to advance contempt of Congress charges against Garland for his refusal to turn over unredacted audio of a special counsel interview with President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

President Joe Biden, right, sitting next to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, speaks at the beginning of his meeting with the Combatant Commanders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, before hosting them for a dinner. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden speaks at a memorial service to honor law enforcement officers who've lost their lives in the past year, during National Police Week ceremonies at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)