The illegal immigrant accused of murdering Augusta University nursing student Laken Riley reportedly wants certain evidence in the case suppressed.
The suspect, 26-year-old Jose Ibarra from Venezuela, is accused of killing a 22-year-old woman while she was jogging on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens on Feb. 22.
A Fox News report published on Friday stated:
Specifically, Ibarra is seeking to block disclosure of “(a) the two cell phones the State believes to be in the Defendant's possession and the information contained therein, (b) the genetic and physical information collected from the Defendant, (c) the contents of the Defendant's social media accounts, including Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, and (d) location information obtained from Google.” “This motion is supported,” the court documents filed Thursday stated.
Ibarra's defense argues that the items were illegally collected by law enforcement and that detectives entered his residence without a search warrant. He seeks to bar the evidence based on the “poisonous fruit” doctrine, which holds that certain evidence obtained through illegal means is inadmissible.
According to a Fox report, Ibarra is accused of killing the young woman by striking her in the head with a blunt object and then asphyxiating her to death.
The suspect and his brother were illegal immigrants and lived in an apartment near the park where Riley was jogging, and the media outlet reported that it was a five-minute walk from Ibarra's front door to the scene of the suspect's crime.
Ibarra crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2022, according to Breitbart News.
“President Joe Biden's sweeping capture and release network has freed millions of people, but Ibarra was released into the U.S. interior after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said they lacked the detention space to keep him,” the article said.
Riley is one of many Americans who have been targeted by alleged illegal immigrants.
Former President Donald Trump in March criticized Biden for backtracking on his use of the word “illegal” to describe Riley's alleged killer, according to Breitbart News.
During his State of the Union address, Biden called the suspects “illegals,” but later retracted the word and explained that he meant “illegal aliens.”
In response, Trump said, “Joe Biden cares more about protecting the feelings of criminal illegal immigrants than he does about protecting the lives of innocent Americans.”
Significantly, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas later suggested that Ibarra's release into the US was justified because “despite the thousands in ICE custody, authorities had no reason to detain him.” [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] “At the time of his release, detention beds were available,” Breitbart News reported in April.
