Undocumented migrant Jose Ibarra has been found guilty of the murder of nursing student Laken Riley.
Ibarra, 26, had pleaded not guilty to the 22-year-old’s February, 2023, murder near the University of Georgia.
He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of all 10 counts against him: malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstructing an emergency call, evidence tampering and being a peeping Tom.
Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
Athens-Clarke County Superior Court Judge H. Patrick Haggard found him guilty after he waived his right to a jury trial. The trial began on Friday.
Riley’s family sobbed as the decision was read, while Ibarra did not show any reaction.
After reading the ruling, the judge said he was ready to proceed with sentencing immediately, but prosecutors asked for a break. The judge said he would proceed after an hour-long break.
The case fueled the immigration debate during this year’s presidential election.
Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus. She had been a student there until 2023, when she transferred to Augusta.
Laken Riley’s killer Jose Ibarra has been found guilty of her murder on Wednesday
Riley’s body was found less than an hour after she was reported missing, near a lake on the University of Georgia campus
Family members and friends of Laken Riley react as Superior Court as Judge H.A Patrick Haggard announces the verdict on Wednesday
Her roommates had reported her missing after becoming concerned that she had been out for longer than usual.
Prosecutors called more than a dozen law enforcement officers for the trial, as well as Riley’s roommates and a woman who lived in the same apartment as Ibarra.
They said Riley ‘fought for her life’ for a brutal 18 minutes as Ibarra attempted to rape her, and had forensic evidence which linked to Ibarra on her body at the time of her death.
‘She marked her killer for the entire world to see. It is his DNA. Only his DNA, underneath Laken’s right fingernails,’ Georgia special prosecutor Sheila Ross said.
‘He left behind his thumbprint on her iPhone, which was found near her body at the crime scene.’
Defense attorney Dustin Kirby said in his opening that Riley’s death was a tragedy and called the evidence in the case graphic and disturbing. But he said there was not sufficient evidence to prove that his client killed Riley.
Defense attorneys called a police officer, a jogger and one of Ibarra’s neighbors on Tuesday and rested their case Wednesday morning.
On Friday prosecutors said Ibarra’s DNA was a direct match to the DNA under Riley’s fingernails, and was ’10 billion times more probable than a coincidental match.’
The picture was taken on CCTV cameras near her home on the University of Georgia campus at 9.05am on the day of her death. She was holding her iPhone in her left hand, wearing all black activewear and her noise-canceling AirPods
Scratches of varying lengths were identified by officers, pictured and submitted as evidence in the case against him
During the trial’s first day, officials also showed images of suspicious scratches on Ibarra’s body at the time of his arrest.
The judge said that as he listened to the closing arguments, he wrote down on a legal pad two things the lawyers had said. He noted that prosecutor Sheila Ross called the evidence ‘overwhelming and powerful’ and that defense attorney Kaitlyn Beck reminded him he was ‘required to set aside my emotions’ in making his ruling.
Ibarra illegally entered the US through US-Mexico border in 2022 and was allowed to stay in the country while he pursued his immigration case.
He has been identified as a member of the brutal Tren de Aragua gang.
On Monday, the court saw images of Ibarro’s brother and roommate, Diego Ibarra, who has a tattoo of a five-point crown of his neck, a symbol of association with the TDA.
TDA became a national story after shocking footage showed apparent members taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. The gang started in Venezuela’s prison and has spread through the western hemisphere as the oil-rich nation goes through the worst migrant crisis in the world.
Also on Monday, Ibarra’s other roommate Rosbeli Elisber Flores-Bello told the court that she moved to Georgia because Diego Ibarra had told the alleged killer there were jobs opportunities in Athens.
Flores-Bello said she met Ibarra in Queens, New York, and within a month decided to move to Georgia with him.
Donald Trump met backstage at his Rome, Georgia rally on Saturday with the family and friends of Laken Riley, including the roommate who reported her missing
Diego Ibarra and a third brother, Argenis Ibarra, pleaded guilty in July to having fake green cards.
When asked how they obtained the plane tickets, Flores-Bello said they were provided by NYC officials.
‘In Manhattan, at The Roosevelt Hotel, we asked for a humanitarian flight to Atlanta, on the 9th or 10th of October, 2023,’ she testified.
Ibarra was arrested four months later for the student’s murder.
