Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged in Augusta University student Laken Riley's February murder on UGA's campus, is to appear in court on Friday for the start of his trial.
WARNING: GRAPHIC ATHENS, Ga. – Jose Ibarra, the suspect charged in Augusta University student Laken Riley's February murder on the University of Georgia campus, is set to appear in court Friday for the start of his trial. Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, allegedly attacked and killed Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, while she was jogging along trails near Lake Herrick on UGA's campus the morning of Feb. 22.
Hear Laken Riley's 911 phone call played in courtroom 'e went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,' 'On Feb. 22, Jose Ibarra put on a black hat, a hoodie-style jacket, and some black kitchen-style disposable gloves, and he went hunting for females on the University of Georgia campus,' prosecutor Sheila Ross said in her opening statement Friday. Riley's sister teared up upon hearing Ross' first statements.
On Tuesday, Judge Patrick Haggard granted Ibarra's request for a bench trial over a jury trial, meaning evidence will be presented in court only to Haggard rather than before a selected jury. Ibarra and his brothers, also in the United States illegally from Venezuela, lived in an apartment building less than a half mile from the on-campus park where Riley was running.
Ibarra illegally crossed into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, ICE and DHS sources previously told Fox News. His older brother, Diego Ibarra, who worked briefly in a UGA cafeteria before his arrest in February, is charged with green card fraud and had ties to a known Venezuelan gang in the U.S. called Tren de Aragua, according to federal court documents.
previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that Jose Ibarra had been arrested by the New York Police Department a year after he entered the U.S. in August 2023 and was 'charged with acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17 and a motor vehicle license violation.' Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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