Name: Murder Trial Begins for Illegal Immigrant Accused of Killing Laken Riley
Uploaded: 2024-11-16T05:39:48.000Z
Description: A Georgia Superior Court judge heard opening statements from attorneys on Friday in an ongoing bench trial over an illegal immigrant alleged to have killed Athens, Georgia, nursing student Laken Riley.

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A Georgia Superior Court judge heard opening statements from attorneys on Friday in an ongoing bench trial over an illegal immigrant alleged to have killed Athens, Georgia, nursing student Laken Riley.

Suspect Jose Ibarra, from Venezuela, was 26 when he entered the country 18 months before the February 2024 killing of the 22-year-old at Augusta University.

He waived his right to a jury trial on Tuesday, which led to the bench trial before Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard on Friday.

Special prosecutor Sheila Ross presented the argument that the suspect hit Riley in the head and strangled her with the intent of sexual assault. Ross has asked for Ibarra to be sentenced to life without parole.

Ross <a href="https://www.courttv.com/news/ga-v-jose-ibarra-the-murder-of-laken-riley/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">alleged</a> that Ibarra donned himself in black on the morning of Feb. 22, 2024, and "went hunting for females on the University of Georgia's (UGA) campus."

"And in his hunt, he encountered 22-year-old Laken Riley on her morning jog, and when Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock, repeatedly," she said. "That is what this case is all about."

She said the evidence will show that Riley "fought for her life," and in that fight she caused the suspect to leave forensic evidence behind.

"She also marked her killer for the entire world to see," Ross said. "The forensic evidence that he left behind in this fight is his DNA and only his DNA underneath Laken's right fingernails."

Jose Ibarra (R), accused of killing a Georgia nursing student earlier this year, listens through an interpreter as he sits with his attorneys Dustin Kirby (2nd L) and Kaitlyn Beck (L), during his trial at Athens-Clarke County Superior Court in Athens, Ga., on Nov. 15, 2024. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

She added that the suspect also left behind his thumbprint on Riley's phone, which was thrown from the crime scene.

Riley disappeared after that morning, which led to a search during which her body was discovered along her route at 1 p.m. on Feb. 22.

UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark called it a “crime of opportunity” in which the suspect saw Riley, “and bad things happened,” he <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/laken-rileys-murder-displays-the-consequential-divide-between-parties-over-illegal-immigration-5596193">said</a>.

Campus video led security to Ibarra, who lived in an apartment complex at the college.

Ibarra has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911, and concealing a death.

According to information found in the affidavit, the suspect <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:a79887a1-a1a3-4c30-acd0-5fd05851d2c8">committed</a> “the offense of aggravated battery when he maliciously causes bodily harm to another by seriously disfiguring her body or a member thereof by disfiguring her skull.”

In addition, the charge of concealing the death of another involved the suspect’s “dragging the victim to a secluded area.”

Court records reported that the Athens-Clarke County Police Department was able to locate the suspect through surveillance camera footage in February 2024.

It was eventually discovered after a search of his apartment and examination of his identification that he had entered the country illegally near Eagle Pass, Texas, and was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“Ibarra was returned to Mexico by CBP that same day,” court records <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:0129b576-b7cb-4603-8cc6-d70f5460e57d">reported</a>. “However, Ibarra would re-enter the U.S. illegally just 27 days later.”

Ibarra eventually migrated to Athens, where he “had frequent contact with local law enforcement officers” through DUI and shoplifting arrests, according to court records.

He was also known to be affiliated with the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan gang, which ”has been involved in recent violent confrontations with law enforcement and civilian victims in New York and elsewhere throughout the United States,” court records reported.

Tren de Aragua also has a significant presence in Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Georgia.

Riley’s death highlights the divide between Democrat and Republican lawmakers over immigration laws.

President-elect Donald Trump said his pick for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan—to whom he referred as the "Border Czar"—will “be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”

A supporter holds a sign with a photo of Laken Riley before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Rome Ga., on March 9, 2024. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)

<em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</em>

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/judge-hears-opening-statements-on-illegal-immigrants-alleged-killing-of-georgia-nursing-student-5760462">The Epoch Times</a></em>

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