A Venezuelan man named Jose Ibarra has been found guilty of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February and sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Ibarra, 26, chose not to have a jury trial, so the decision was made by Judge H. Patrick Haggard in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court. Ibarra was convicted of three counts of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and peeping. .
He received two life sentences plus 27 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed for his charges. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty.
Laken Riley’s family and roommates were emotional as the verdict was read. Ibarra showed no reaction. The case also sparked a national conversation about immigration because Ibarra had entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay while his immigration case was ongoing.
The trial started on Friday and included testimony from over a dozen law enforcement officers, Riley’s roommates, and a woman who lived near Ibarra.
The defense presented a few witnesses, including a police officer and a neighbor, but rested their case by Wednesday morning.
Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the judge that Ibarra attacked Riley while she was out for a run on the University of Georgia campus on February 22, and killed her during a struggle. Riley, 22, was a nursing student at Augusta University.
In defense, Ibarra’s lawyer, Kaitlyn Beck, argued that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove Ibarra killed Riley, suggesting instead that Ibarra’s brother, Diego, could have been responsible.
She even raised the idea that the DNA evidence could have been tainted because the brothers shared clothes and a bed.
