The mother of slain Augusta University student Laken Riley grew emotional during a hearing Friday where she learned of suspected illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra’s scheduled trial date on Nov. 18.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard set the trial date after Ibarra, who entered the United States illegally from Venezuela, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in Ibarra’s death at his arraignment in late May. Haggard expects jury selection to begin Nov. 13 and hopes to wrap up the trial by Thanksgiving.
Laken Riley’s mother, Allison Phillips, and her stepfather, John Phillips, appeared in court Friday for a status hearing. Allison Phillips was sniffling as she entered the courtroom. Special prosecutor Sheila Ross approached her and put her hand on her knee to comfort her, and the two had a brief conversation before the hearing began.
Phillips then left the courtroom crying and holding a box of tissues.
Illegal immigrant suspect indicted in Laken Riley murder case
Jose Ibarra appeared in court Friday for his hearing in the Laken Riley murder case. (My)
Ibarra is charged with malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, interfering with an emergency call, tampering with evidence and espionage. Prosecutors plan to seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was attacked on February 22 while running on a dirt road on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens.
Judge Haggard is expected to schedule a hearing to argue the motion for September or early October. Public Defender Caitlin Beck said the defense received one sheaf of evidence two weeks ago and another this morning.
According to the indictment, Ibarra allegedly inflicted blunt force trauma on Riley’s head and “asphyxiated her in a manner unknown to the jury,” causing her death.
Laken Riley’s father says suspect ‘may not have been here’ if border was secure
Laken Riley poses for a photo posted to Facebook after she was found dead near a lake on campus on Feb. 22, 2024, as a nursing student at the University of Georgia. (Allison Phillips/Facebook)
According to the indictment, the suspect also went to an apartment in the University of Georgia’s “University Village Housing Building ‘S'” and “spied” on university employees by “peeking” through a window on the same day he allegedly killed Riley.
Ibarra, who lived in an apartment on the edge of the campus park where Riley was running, is suspected of killing the aspiring nurse in what University of Georgia Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”
Laken Riley’s mother, Allison Phillips, center, gets emotional as she sits next to Riley’s stepfather, John Phillips, inside Clark County Superior Court in Athens, Friday, May 31, 2024, where defendant Jose Ibarra pleaded not guilty to 10 charges in Riley’s death. (Pool)
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The scenic route Riley ran that morning is easily accessible from the back of Ibarra’s apartment, and it’s a five-minute walk from his front door to the area where Riley was found dead.
Fox News’ Chelsea Torres and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
