Jose Ybarra, the suspect charged in the February murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus, is scheduled to appear in court Friday to begin his trial.
Ibarra, 26, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly attacked and killed nursing student Riley, 22, as she jogged on a path near Herrick Lake on the UGA campus on the morning of February 22nd.
On Tuesday, Athens-Clarke County Judge Patrick Haggard granted Ybarra's request for a court trial rather than a jury trial, meaning evidence would be presented in court only to Haggard and not to a selected jury.
Georgia-based criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway previously told Fox News Digital, “He's trying to rapidly survive without parole by doing this.” “It would certainly speed things up.”
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Jose Ibarra will appear in court for a motion hearing on October 11, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (AP Photo/Bryn Anderson/Pool)
Evidence to be presented at Ybarra's trial includes fingerprints, DNA and cell phone data, as well as a jacket and gloves recovered from a trash can outside Ybarra's apartment and a U.G.A. These include “peeping tom” incidents reported on campus.
Ibarra and his brother also entered the country illegally from Venezuela and lived in an apartment less than a half-mile from the campus park where Riley ran.
Ybarra is accused of killing the woman, an aspiring nurse, in what UGA Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described as a “crime of opportunity.”
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Laken Riley smiled and posed for photos as he ran. Riley, a nursing student at the University of Georgia, was found dead near a lake on campus on February 22, 2024. (Laken Riley/Instagram)
In May, a Georgia grand jury indicted Ybarra on charges of malicious murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, and two counts of aggravated assault with impediment or obstruction of a 911 call. Tampering with evidence and being a “peeping tom”.
Tom's voyeurism charge stems from a separate incident on February 22, when the suspect allegedly went to the hospital. Residence on the UGA campus in Athens According to the indictment, he “peeped” through windows and “sniffed” on university employees.
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Jose Ibarra appears in court for a pretrial evidentiary hearing on November 1, 2024 in Athens, Georgia. (Robin Lane, Fox News Digital)
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.
Her brother, Diego Ybarra, who briefly worked in the UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, has been charged with green card fraud and is known in the U.S. as Tren de Ibarra, according to federal court documents. He was said to have ties to a Venezuelan gang called Aragua.
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ICE previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ybarra was arrested by police. new york city police A year later, in August 2023, he entered the United States and was charged with “acts causing injury to a child under 17 years of age and violation of a motor vehicle license.”
FOX News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
