When a Georgia judge convicted Laken Riley's murderer, Jose Ybarra, on 10 counts and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, politicians and pundits across the country thought he was the death penalty. He expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that he was not sentenced.
During the nearly four-day trial, prosecutor Sheila Ross called 29 witnesses to the stand and said Ybarra struck Riley, a 22-year-old Augusta University nursing student, in the head as she jogged on the University of Georgia campus. It was proven that he brutally assaulted and killed her by force. You could strangle her with a large rock.
However, Deborah Gonzalez, District Attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit of Georgia, decided not to pursue the death penalty against Ybarra in May, about three months after Riley's murder, in a May 31 press release. He said the decision to seek life without the possibility of parole instead of death was unjust. “This sentence was reached after careful consideration with senior prosecutors and with support from the victim's family.”
“Our greatest obligation is to ensure that justice is served and that the families of the victims are an integral part of the deliberative process,” Gonzalez said in a statement at the time. “We understand that there are people outside of this office who disagree with our decisions and who would seek to use this case for political gain. Procedural integrity and the pursuit of justice must always transcend political considerations.”
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Soros-backed Georgia State Attorney Deborah Gonzalez lost her re-election bid in 2024. (×)
Ted Williams, a Fox News contributor and former criminal and civil trial attorney who also worked as a homicide detective in Washington, D.C., called Gonzalez's decision “absolutely outrageous.”
“This person should burn his bar card,” Williams said. “Every case should have been decided, and this one should have been decided, and the death penalty should have been decided on the merits. This is outrageous.”
He added that “under Georgia law, the death penalty is at the discretion of the district attorney.”
Jose Ibarra will appear for trial on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court in Athens, Georgia. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
“Prosecutors should decide whether to seek the death penalty based on how egregious and violent the murder was,” Williams explained. “Political leanings should never factor into a decision. Sadly, Prosecutor Deborah Gonzalez failed to seek the death penalty for Laken Hope Riley by not seeking the death penalty against Jose Ybarra. If ever there was a case that warranted the death penalty, it was this one.”
“Ibarra violently murdered Laken Riley. He stalked Laken, took a stone, and smashed it in her skull.”
Republican Georgia Representative Houston Gaines told FOX News Digital that if the death penalty had been on the table, Ybarra might have chosen a plea deal instead of life in prison without parole, and Riley He said a trial would not have been necessary to reveal the graphic details of the killing.
Deborah Gonzalez, a prosecutor with the Western Judicial Circuit of Georgia, participates in the first Athens Pride Parade in downtown Athens, Georgia on June 12, 2022. (Joshua L. Jones/USA Today Network)
”[I]Gaines said that if there was a case for the death penalty, this is something to consider. “At least keep the death penalty on the table… let the defendant plead for life in prison without parole.” Ta.
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In 2020, when a former state House prosecutor backed by George Soros took over as prosecutor, she voiced her opposition to the death penalty.
“I do not support the death penalty. It is cruel and humane.”
“I do not support the death penalty. It is cruel and humane,” Gonzalez said in a post to X on September 23, 2020. #Atenega I would not seek that in any prosecution. An eye for an eye argument does not make our community whole. Restorative justice makes that possible. ”
Laken Riley's final moments were captured on a UGA trail camera on February 22nd. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Associated Press, Pool)
On Gonzalez's first day in office, his office outlined some of its new initiatives, including not seeking the death penalty, in a memo sent to the Georgia Legislature at the time. Gaines shared some of his notes about X in February after Riley's murder, prompting the DA's office to pursue the death penalty.
In his memo, Gonzalez said he would consider “collateral effects on the undocumented defendant,” or the negative effects of a conviction on an illegal immigrant.
“District Attorney Gonzalez was wrong to factor in 'collateral effects on the defendant who is in the country illegally' in his decision not to seek the death penalty,” Williams said. “It is outrageous to believe that a prosecutor sworn to uphold the law after looking at the facts of this case is considering how undocumented defendants are treated in the criminal justice system. The decision you seek should be made solely on the basis of the individual merits of the case, not whether a person is in the country illegally. ”
Mr. Gonares, who lost his re-election bid in 2024, decided not to prosecute the Ybarra case and handed the case over to special prosecutor Mr. Ross, who hurriedly handed down a guilty verdict after a roughly four-day trial.
WSBT-TV first reported in February that Gonzalez was criticized by Gov. Brian Kemp and other local politicians for failing to secure a single criminal jury conviction during his term. was receiving criticism.
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Houston Gaines criticized Deborah Gonzalez's decision not to pursue the death penalty in Jose Ybarra's criminal case for the murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley. (Gains/ © Joshua L. Jones/USA Today Network)
“She made her decision before the incident happened,” Gaines said of Gonzalez's anti-death penalty stance. “That's the problem when you take office and make sweeping policy statements. … Again, people like Jose Ibarra come to our communities because… is a community that has welcomed individuals who are in this country illegally. And they know that violent criminals are more likely to get away with it more easily in Athens than elsewhere.”
Mr. Gaines also pointed out that Mr. Gonzalez “has had 35 attorneys resign in 17 positions over the past few years, leaving only a handful of attorneys remaining at the firm.”
“Their turnover is over 200%,” said the state representative. “So her office really doesn't have any lawyers left, so they couldn't handle this case.”
Gonzalez's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross makes closing arguments before Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard during the trial of Jose Ybarra in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Hyo-Seob Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)
Ybarra entered the United States illegally. El Paso, Texas They will be released on parole to the United States in September 2022, ICE and DHS officials previously told Fox News. He briefly lived in New York City, but was arrested in 2023 on child endangerment charges. He and his 29-year-old brother Diego Ibarra were also previously charged with shoplifting in Athens.
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Jose, Diego, and their younger brother Agenis lived in an apartment less than a half-mile from the campus park where Riley was running on the morning of Feb. 22. Their apartment was adjacent to a shortcut that led to a running track. Riley was found dead that afternoon in a wooded area along UGA's campus, half-naked and covered in leaves. She died of blunt force trauma and asphyxia, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation coroner.
According to federal court documents, Diego, who briefly worked in the UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, had ties to Torren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang known in the United States.
