The trial begins for the man accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley

ATHENS, Ga. – A Venezuelan man ‘went hunting for women on the University of Georgia campus earlier this year’ and ended up murder of nursing student Laken Riley after a struggle, a prosecutor said Friday. A lawyer said the evidence is circumstantial and does not prove his client is guilty.

Jose Ibarra, who entered the US illegally two years ago, does accused of murder and other crimes in Riley’s killing in February, which has fueled the immigration debate during this year’s presidential campaign. Ibarra waived his right to a jury trialmeaning his case 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 running on Feb. 22.

“When Laken Riley refused to be his rape victim, he repeatedly struck her skull with a rock,” Ross said, adding that the evidence will show that Riley “fought for her life and for her dignity.”

As a result of that fight, Ibarra’s DNA was left under her fingernails, Ross said. Riley called 911 and during a struggle for her phone, Ibarra’s fingerprint was left on the screen, she said.

The forensic evidence is enough to prove Ibarra’s guilt, but digital and video evidence will also show that Ibarra killed Riley, prosecutors said.

Attorney Dustin Kirby called the evidence in the case compelling and disturbing, but he said none of it proves his client killed Riley.

“The evidence in this case is very good that Laken Riley was murdered,” he said. “The evidence that Jose Ibarra killed Laken Riley is circumstantial. Evidence that someone intended or certainly committed a sexual assault is speculation.”

The killing added fuel to the national debate over immigration as federal authorities said Ibarra entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay to pursue his immigration case.

Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, blamed Democratic President Joe Biden border policy before her death. While speaking about border security during his State of the Union address weeks after the killing, Biden said called Riley by name.

Riley’s body was found near running trails after her roommates told police she had done so not returned from a morning run. Police said her killing appeared to be a random attack. Ibarra was arrested the next day and held without bond in the Athens-Clarke County Jail.

Ibarra is charged with one count of malice murder, three counts of murder and one count of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated assault, obstructing an emergency telephone call, tampering with evidence and being a peeping tom.

Prosecutors say Ibarra peered through the window of a university apartment building on the day of Riley’s murder, which is the basis for the peeping tom charge.

Before the trial, lawyers tried in vain to have the proceedings moved from Athens, a city of about 130,000 people about 70 miles east of Atlanta. They also wanted the charges against the peeping Tom to be tried separately and to exclude any evidence and expert testimony.