Jose Ibarra found guilty of murder in trial over death of Laken Riley

A Venezuelan man was found guilty Wednesday of murdering Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student whose brutal killing fueled the national debate over border security and became a focal point in the presidential campaign.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, who entered the U.S. illegally in September 2022, was convicted of all charges, which include murder, aggravated assault with attempt to rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and others, by Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard. Ibarra had waived his right to a jury trial in favor of a bench trial, in which the judge determines the verdict.

Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"Laken was an amazing friend, sister, niece, daughter and granddaughter. Everyone who knew her knew about her loving heart," Allyson Phillips, Riley's mother, told the judge during a victim impact statement. "Laken’s life was not the only life taken on that day that Jose Ibarra attacked her. The life of her family and friends was taken too. None of us will ever be the same."

During the campaign for the White House, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies turned the case into an indictment of President Joe Biden's immigration policies, stoking fears of rampant crime by foreigners streaming into the U.S. unlawfully.

Riley, 22, was studying nursing at Augusta University's campus in Athens when she went for a run the morning of Feb. 22 at the University of Georgia, which she previously attended. Prosecutors said Ibarra, 26, intended to rape Riley when he attacked her on the intramural fields complex. He was arrested in a nearby apartment building the next day.

During the trial, Haggard heard the translation of an audio recording of a Spanish-language phone conversation from jail between Ibarra and his wife, Layling Franco, on May 11.

In the call, according to a translation by FBI Agent Abeisis Ramirez, Franco questioned why investigators only had Ibarra's DNA and told him, “What happened to the girl?’’ as Ibarra tried to get her to stop. Ibarra did not tell his wife that he killed Riley during the call.

Prosecutors say defendant was 'hunting for females'

The trial began Friday when special prosecutor Sheila Ross said Ibarra had gone “hunting for females’’ at the campus, spotted Riley and planned to rape her but met fierce resistance and “bashed her skull in with a rock repeatedly.’’

Prosecutors also presented surveillance video showing a man they identified as Ibarra throwing a blue jacket into a dumpster and said the jacket was recovered and contained the DNA of both Riley and Ibarra, who's not a student at the university. The prosecution has said Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails and that it also has digital evidence connecting him to the crimes.

Evidence from the data of two cellphones and a smartwatch placed Riley and Ibarra on the same path when she was killed, prosecutors also said in court Monday. That data showed not just Riley's location, but her speed of running and her rate of heartbeat, Wesley Durkit, a UGA Police Department IT security analyst, testified.

Riley came to a complete stop on the trail during her run at 9:10 a.m., the watch and phone data showed, according to Durkit. Her heartbeat dropped to zero at 9:28, he said. She tried to make a 911 call at 9:11 a.m.

As she was heading out on her run, Riley had called and texted her mom, Phillips, asking if she had time to talk, but then never responded to her mother's messages or answered her calls, The Associated Press reported.

"Call me when you can," Phillips texted at 9:37 a.m. Phillips called twice, according to cellphone data presented in court, according to The AP.

"You're making me nervous not answering while you're out running. Are you OK?" Phillips texted at 9:58 a.m.

"Please call me. I'm worried sick about you," Phillips texted at 11:47 a.m.

Defense says link to Ibarra is 'circumstantial'

Defense lawyer Dustin Kirby said the evidence strongly suggested Riley was murdered but called its link to Ibarra’s involvement “circumstantial,’’ adding, “The evidence that anyone had any intent or certainly committed any sexual assault is speculation.’’

During closing arguments on Wednesday, Ibarra's defense team sought to cast reasonable doubt on the evidence, and proposed an alternate theory: It was actually the defendant's brother, Diego Ibarra, who could have killed Riley.

The district attorney’s office has indicated it will pursue life imprisonment without parole but not the death penalty if Ibarra is convicted of the most serious charges.

Killing fuels immigration debate

The killing promptly made its way into the immigration debate, heating up after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia highlighted the attack before and during Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7, urging him to say Riley’s name during the speech.

Biden did, offered condolences to her parents and urged Republicans to get behind a bipartisan border-security bill that died in Congress in February under pressure from Trump, then the GOP’s expected nominee and now the president-elect.

Ibarra had been apprehended at the Texas-Mexico border in September 2022 but allowed to stay in the U.S. while making his immigration case, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said.

Republicans seized on the case as an example of the danger they said Biden’s immigration policies presented, even though several studies have shown undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

Trump has been particularly insistent that immigrants bring mostly trouble. He referenced Riley's killing during his speech accepting the nomination at the National Republican Convention in July, saying, "Yet another American life was stolen by a criminal alien set free by this administration. Tonight, America, this is my vow: I will not let these killers and criminals into our country."

Contributing: Wayne Ford, Athens Banner-Herald

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jose Ibarra found guilty of murder in trial over death of Laken Riley