The trial of an illegal immigrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley begins Friday, and his fate will be decided by a judge rather than a jury.
Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan national who entered the United States illegally through the southern border, is accused of killing Riley, 22, as she went for a morning run in Athens, Georgia, on February 22nd.
Prosecutors allege Ybarra, 26, planned a sexual assault and attacked the Augusta University nursing student, hitting her in the head and suffocating her.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of malicious murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and related crimes, and could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if convicted. He also faces one count of peeping on a University of Georgia employee the same day as the killing.
Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty in Ibarra's case.
On Tuesday, when jury selection was scheduled to begin, Mr. Ybarra waived his right to a trial by 12 of his colleagues, opting instead to be sentenced by Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard.
The incident began around 9 a.m. in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom in the town where the murder took place.
Earlier this month, Ibarra's defense team postponed the trial and ordered the trial to be postponed on the grounds that the defense needed more time to consider the case and that investigators had allegedly improperly collected DNA, fingerprints, and cell phone data. lost a bid to have the evidence suppressed.
Ibarra's case received national attention because of his family's ties to the notorious Torren de Aragua gang. After Ybarra illegally entered the United States via El Paso, Texas, immigration authorities released him due to lack of space.
He was arrested in the Big Apple in August 2023 on charges of illegally riding a gasoline moped with a 5-year-old in the back without a helmet or seatbelt, but was released again.
Ibarra then fled to Georgia to join his brother Diego, a member of his family with ties to dangerous gangs, where he lives.
The brothers were arrested in Georgia in September 2023 on suspicion of stealing from Walmart.
Riley's body was discovered near her apartment after a friend alerted authorities that she had failed to return home from a morning jog. Police said Ibarra's attack on Riley appears to be a crime of opportunity.
He was arrested the next day and has been jailed without bail ever since.
Prosecutors plan to present a wealth of evidence at trial linking Ybarra to the crime, including fingerprints taken from Riley's cell phone and DNA evidence taken from her fingernails.
