A Georgia judge has found a man guilty in the killing of nursing student Laken Riley, a crime that shocked both the college town where she lived and the nation in February.
Jose Ibarra, 26, was convicted on charges of murder and other offenses related to Riley’s death. According to authorities, Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, had entered the United States illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay while his immigration case was being processed. His immigration status sparked fierce political debate, with leading Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blaming President Biden’s border policies for the tragedy.
The verdict was delivered by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard after a week of hearings. Ibarra had waived his right to a jury trial, opting for the case to be decided by the judge alone. Despite pleading not guilty to a 10-count indictment, Ibarra chose not to testify in his defense during the trial.
The charges against Ibarra included one count of malice murder, three counts of felony murder, and additional counts of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery. He also faced charges of hindering an emergency call, tampering with evidence, and being a “peeping Tom.” Prosecutors alleged that on the day of Riley’s murder, Ibarra was seen peering through a window in a university housing complex. They contended that he was “hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus” when he encountered Riley.
While the state did not pursue the death penalty, prosecutors indicated their intention to seek life imprisonment without parole.
Riley’s body was discovered on February 22 in a wooded area on the University of Georgia campus, where she was a nursing student at Augusta University. The 22-year-old had gone for her usual morning run through the campus intramural fields but did not return. Concerned friends contacted university police around midday. Riley’s habit of speaking with her mother during her morning runs raised further alarm when neither family nor friends could reach her.
Allyson Phillips, Riley’s mother, testified about her growing fear that morning. Logs and text messages retrieved from Riley’s phone showed that Phillips tried repeatedly to contact her daughter after missing a call from her just after 9 a.m. At Tuesday’s hearing, Phillips wept as Georgia Police Sgt. Sophie Raboud read aloud a message she had sent Riley at 11:47 a.m.: “You’re making me nervous not answering while you’re out running. Are you OK?”
Emotions ran high during Raboud’s testimony when video footage of Riley running on the morning of her death was shown in court. Family and friends in attendance became visibly distraught.
Ibarra was taken into custody the day after the murder and held without bond in the Athens-Clarke County Jail. Police described the attack as random, but a May grand jury indictment painted a horrific picture of the events. Prosecutors alleged that Ibarra suffocated Riley, struck her with a rock so violently it disfigured her skull, and pulled up her clothing with the intent to sexually assault her.
During the trial, prosecutor Sheila Ross presented evidence of a brutal attack. “When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross told the judge. She said the evidence, including video footage, traces of Ibarra’s DNA under Riley’s fingernails, and his thumbprint on her phone screen, demonstrated how Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity” over nearly 20 minutes.
Data from Riley’s smartwatch showed her heart rate stopped around 9:28 a.m., with the watch indicating she had abruptly halted her run at 9:10 a.m. and made a 911 call a minute later.
Ibarra’s attorney, Dustin Kirby, challenged the prosecution’s case, describing the evidence as circumstantial and insufficient to conclusively prove guilt. “The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” Kirby said, while arguing that the DNA evidence might not definitively exclude other suspects. He even suggested that one of Ibarra’s brothers could have been involved, noting that Diego Ibarra, the defendant’s sibling, was working at the university dining hall on the day of the murder.
The prosecution bolstered their case with testimony from FBI Special Agent James Burnie, who explained how electronic location data placed both Riley and Ibarra in the same wooded area. Burnie cited GPS records from Riley’s smartwatch and cellphone, along with cell tower pings from Ibarra’s phone, which pointed to his presence in the area.
Prosecutors also introduced a recording of a phone conversation between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, while he was in jail. During the call, Ibarra claimed he was looking for work at the university, but Franco repeatedly urged him to tell her the truth about Riley’s death, according to testimony from FBI specialist Abeisis Ramirez. The recording, originally in Spanish, was translated for the court.
However, the jailhouse call was excluded from the trial evidence. Judge Haggard ruled on Tuesday that it violated the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause. “After hearing the translations I do find that it was more than contextual, and therefore violates the confrontation clause of the 6th Amendment,” he said, emphasizing the defendant’s right to confront witnesses.
{Matzav.com}