ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — A Venezuelan man “went hunting for females on the University of Georgia’s campus” earlier this year and ended up killing nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. A defense attorney said the evidence is circumstantial and doesn’t prove his client is guilty.
Jose Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally two years ago, is charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s February killing, which helped fan the immigration debate during this year’s presidential campaign.
Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial , meaning his case is being will be heard and decided by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley, a 22-year-old student at Augusta University College of Nursing, while she was out running on Feb.
22. “When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly,” Ross said, adding that the evidence will show that Riley “fought for her life, for her dignity.” As a result of that fight, Ibarra’s DNA was left under her fingernails, Ross said.
Riley called 911 and, in a struggle over her phone, Ibarra’s thumbprint was left on the screen, she said. The forensic evidence is sufficient to prove Ibarra’s guilt, but digital and video evidence will also show that Ibarra killed Riley, the prosecutor said. Defense attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing, bu.