Jose Ibarra was found guilty of murder at trial for Laken Riley’s death

A Venezuelan man was found guilty Wednesday of murdering Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student whose brutal killing fueled the national debate over border security and became a focal point in the presidential campaign.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, who entered the United States illegally in September 2022, was convicted by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard of all charges, including murder, aggravated assault with attempted rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and others. Ibarra had waived his right to a jury trial in favor of a bench trial, where the judge would decide the verdict.

Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Laken was a great friend, sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter. Everyone who knew her knew about her loving heart,” Allyson Phillips, Riley’s mother, told the judge during a victim impact statement. “Laken’s life was not the only life taken the day Jose Ibarra attacked her. The lives of her family and friends were also taken. None of us will ever be the same.”

During the campaign for the White House, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies turned the case into an indictment of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, stoking fears of rampant crime by foreigners entering the U.S. illegally.

Riley, 22, was studying nursing at the Augusta University campus in Athens when she went for a run on the morning of Feb. 22 at the University of Georgia, which she had previously attended. Prosecutors said Ibarra, 26, intended to rape Riley when he attacked her at the property complex. He was arrested the next day at a nearby residence.

During the trial, Haggard heard the translation of an audio recording of a Spanish-language phone conversation from prison between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, on May 11.

According to a translation by FBI Agent Abeisis Ramirez, in the call, Franco asked why investigators only had Ibarra’s DNA and told him, “What happened to the girl?” as Ibarra tried to get her to stop. Ibarra did not tell his wife that he killed Riley during the call.

Prosecutors say defendant was “on the hunt for women.”

The trial began Friday when special prosecutor Sheila Ross said Ibarra went “on the hunt for women” on campus, discovered Riley and planned to rape her, but was met with stiff resistance and attacked her “several times with one.” “The skull was smashed in by a stone.”

Prosecutors also presented surveillance video that showed a man they identified as Ibarra throwing a blue jacket into a dumpster and said the jacket was recovered and contained the DNA of Riley and Ibarra, who was not a student the university is. Prosecutors have said Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails and that there is also digital evidence linking him to the crimes.

Evidence from data from two cellphones and a smartwatch indicated that Riley and Ibarra were on the same path when she was killed, prosecutors also said in court Monday. That data showed not only Riley’s location, but also her running speed and heart rate, said Wesley Durkit, an IT security analyst with the UGA Police Department.

According to Durkit, Riley came to a complete stop during her run at 9:10 a.m., the clock and phone records showed. Her heart rate dropped to zero at 9:28 a.m., he said. She attempted to make an emergency call at 9:11 a.m

As she set out to run, Riley had called and texted her mother, Phillips, asking her if she had time to talk, but then never responded to her mother’s messages or returned her calls, The Associated Press reported .

“Call me when you can,” Phillips texted at 9:37 a.m. Phillips called twice, according to cellphone records presented in court, according to the AP.

“You make me nervous if I don’t answer while you’re running. Are you OK?” Phillips texted at 9:58 a.m

“Please call me. I am very worried about you,” Phillips wrote at 11:47 a.m

Defense says connection to Ibarra is ‘circumstantial’

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said the evidence strongly suggests that Riley was murdered, but called the connection to Ibarra’s involvement “circumstantial,” adding, “Evidence that someone had some intent or certainly committed a sexual assault.” , is speculation.”

During closing arguments Wednesday, Ibarra’s defense team tried to cast reasonable doubt on the evidence and proposed an alternative theory: It was actually the defendant’s brother, Diego Ibarra, who could have killed Riley.

Prosecutors have indicated they will seek a life sentence without parole, but not the death penalty, if Ibarra is convicted of the most serious charges.

Killing fuels the immigration debate

The killing immediately entered the immigration debate and intensified after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia highlighted the attack before and during Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7 and called on him to mention Riley’s name during the speech.

Biden did so, expressing condolences to her parents and urging Republicans to get behind a bipartisan border security bill that failed in Congress in February under pressure from Trump, then the expected GOP nominee and now the president-elect.

Ibarra was arrested at the Texas-Mexico border in September 2022 but was allowed to remain in the United States while he filed his immigration application, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Republicans used the case as an example of the danger they say Biden’s immigration policies pose, even though several studies have shown that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans.

Trump has been particularly insistent that immigrants are mostly trouble. During his nomination acceptance speech at the National Republican Convention in July, he referenced Riley’s killing and said, “Another American life has been stolen by a criminal alien released by this administration.” Tonight, America, this is my vow: I will not allow these murderers and criminals into our country.”

Contributor: Wayne Ford, Athens Banner-Herald

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jose Ibarra was found guilty of murder at trial in Laken Riley’s death