Man convicted of killing Laken Riley sentenced to life in prison without parole

Kate Brumback
| Associated Press

Athens, Ga. — The Venezuelan man convicted of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jose Ibarra has been charged with murder and other crimes in Riley’s death in February, and the guilty verdict was handed down Wednesday by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Ibarra, 26, had waived his right to a jury trial, meaning Haggard alone heard and decided the case.

Haggard found Ibarra guilty of all 10 charges against him: one count of malice murder; three counts of felony murder; and kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to commit rape, aggravated battery, interfering with an emergency call, tampering with evidence, and spying Tom are each counted.

Riley’s family and friends tearfully remembered her and asked the judge to sentence Ibarra to the maximum sentence. His mother called him a “monster” and his father called him a “really bad person.”

Ibarra did not react as an interpreter relayed his words to him.

Before announcing the verdict, Haggard said he wrote down two things the lawyers said in his notebook while listening to closing arguments. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence “overwhelming and overwhelming” and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him that he had to “put my feelings aside” when making the decision.

Riley’s killing sparked a national debate over immigration, with federal authorities saying Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to remain in the country while his immigration case was pending. However, Ibarra’s immigration status was not mentioned during the hearing.

“Laken Riley gave you all the evidence you needed” to find Ibarra guilty on all counts, Ross told the judge during closing. He added that the physical evidence was sufficient and supported by forensic, digital and video evidence, “reversing this very strong knot that the defendant could not get out of.” There’s no way out for him.”

Evidence shows Ibarra killed Riley “because she wouldn’t let him rape her.”

Ross said Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails, while his and Ibarra’s DNA were found on a jacket police found in a trash can at the apartment complex. A man seen on security footage throwing away the jacket was identified as Ibarra by his brother and another roommate, he said.

Ross said Riley was wearing “tight running clothes designed not to move.” Ross said that when her body was found, the waistband of her running tights was pulled down and her jacket, shirt and sports bra were pulled up, evidence that her clothes had been displaced by an attempted sexual assault, not by dragging.

Surveillance video shows a man wearing clothes similar to those in a selfie Ibarra took with his phone earlier that morning lingering outside a female graduate student’s home. This student told police that while he was in the shower, someone tried to get in through the front door and looked through the window.

Ross said Ibarra was “out there prowling and preying on women,” and when he couldn’t get into the apartment, he headed to the jogging trails to find a victim.

Defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck told the judge the evidence was circumstantial and did not conclusively prove Ibarra’s guilt.

“It is not beyond a reasonable doubt because the evidence is subject to multiple interpretations,” he said.

Beck attempted to cast doubt on a DNA testing method used to test some evidence. He noted that when the fingerprint found on Riley’s phone was entered into the database, Ibarra did not come back as a match, and an expert visually matched the fingerprints.

He said there were “doubts about what was and was not tested” because investigators did not test some of the evidence they collected.

During questioning of witnesses and Beck’s closing, defense attorneys attempted to cast doubt on Jose Ibarra’s guilt by arguing that his brother Diego could not be excluded as a suspect.

The trial began Friday, and prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officials, Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra. Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.

Ross told the judge that Ibarra encountered Riley while jogging on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22 and killed him during a struggle. Riley, 22, was a student at Augusta University College of Nursing, which also has a campus in Athens, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Atlanta.

Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening statement that Riley’s death was a tragedy and said the evidence in the case was striking and disturbing. However, he said there was not enough evidence to prove his client killed Riley.

Riley’s parents, roommates, and other friends and family filled the courtroom throughout the hearing.

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