Jurors will soon begin considering a verdict in the murder trial of Santa Cruz County rancher George Alan Kelly. The defense rested without Kelly testifying in his own defense.
Defendants are not required to testify and they rarely do. Its dangerous for a defendant to do because besides friendly questions from their own lawyers, prosecutors can hit them with very unfriendly questions.
FULL REPORT AIRING ON KGUN 9 NEWS AT 6
Kellys defense attorneys decided not to put him on the stand. Throughout the trial, investigators have testified that Kellys story kept changing about the incident. They say that it was late in the day of the shooting and a half hour into questioning by a detective before he even admitted firing his AK-47 assault rifle.
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Kelly had said he fired shots over the head of two men crossing his land. He said they were warning shots meant to drive them away, not to hurt them.
But Kelly later found one man deadGabriel Cuen Buitimea fell more than a hundred yards from where Kelly stood just outside his house and fired nine times.
No bullet was ever found to test for a match to Kellys rifle. The bullet that killed the man went through him and kept going. Kellys defense attorneys suggested the dead man was involved in smuggling and that bandits shot him to steal drugs, money and guns.
A second degree murder charge does not ask jurors if someone meant to kill anyone. All thats required for a conviction is to prove Kelly was reckless when he fired his rifle and that a man died as a result.
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